Happy Birthday Gwennie–part 5–the final chapter. Finally

(Part One Two Three Four)

By now we had reached about 5 am, and everyone thought we were getting quite close to show time. The secondary midwife had arrived. Taryn told me she called her a little earlier than normal, because she was that confident that this baby would be here soon.

About this same time, my head started playing tricks on me. Looking back, I think it’s safe to say that she probably would have been born earlier but psychologically, I let things get away from me and started playing mind games with myself. First of all, I started watching the clock. I was nervous about not giving birth before Evalyn woke up and that the closer we got to her normal wake up time, the lighter her sleep would be, and the more likely that the commotion and the noise I was making would wake her up. Needless to say, I did not need to be anxious about these things (here I go again with always needing to be in control of things that are out of my control).

My mom knew that this was a worry of mine, so around 5:30, she whispered in my ear that my Dad had arrived and was parked in the truck outside, just waiting to whisk her away in the event that Evalyn woke up. Yet still, for some reason, I kept thinking in my head that I had to get this done before she woke up.

Along with this, as my labour got more and more intense and I knew we were getting close to the finish line, I just wanted to be done. During Evalyn’s birth, once I made it through transition and had reached completion, I only had to push for 20 minutes before she was born. I envisioned this baby’s birth to be similar. And, so, I kept telling myself that once I started pushing, it would be over. I would be done. My baby would be here.

It was these thoughts that really started tripping me up. It was as though I was willing my body to be ready to push. Thinking that I could make myself be ready. If my body told me it was time to push, it would be time to push and this pain would be over.

So, as soon as I felt the pressure increasing and felt the slightest urge to push, I told my midwives I thought I was ready. They told me to listen to my body and if it was telling me it was time to push, then we would try pushing.

I got back to the bed and got in the same position I delivered Evalyn in – on my hands and knees. Again, I envisioned this working again just as it had for her. I pushed a few times but I could just tell that it was ineffective. I knew what my pushes should feel like if they were going to bring my baby out and I knew that these pushes were wrong. Yet, I continued to push a few times. Finally, I asked Taryn if she thought this was working. She decided it would be best to check and be sure my cervix was fully dilated before continuing in order to avoid unnecessary pushing and avoid potential swelling that could make things harder in the end.

When the student midwife, Rebecca, checked me, she told me hesitantly that I was not complete. In fact, I was only 8 cm. I still had 2 cm to go. Clearly, I was not ready.

Discouraged, frustrated, and tired, I continued to labour in a variety of positions. On the bed, on the birthing stool, on the exercise ball and standing up, with Evan supporting under my arms, practically holding me up. At this point, Taryn suggested I not go back to the toilet because she didn’t want to risk the baby coming out while I was in there.

After a few more minutes, I had myself convinced, once again, that I was ready to push. Again, it was psychological. I knew I wasn’t really ready. But it was getting closer and closer to ‘morning’ time and I just wanted to be done.

This time, I decided to try to push on the birthing stool. I did maybe three or four pushes and once again, didn’t feel as though it was effective. Taryn asked me if I wanted her to check me to be sure everything was ready before I wasted any more energy. I agreed. Again, she told me that I just wasn’t quite there. There was a tiny amount of cervix that still needed to go back before I would be fully ready to push.

This time, it was her suggestion to return to sitting backward on the toilet and breath through some more contractions. We did just that – and let me tell you, that was the most intense, difficult twenty or so minutes of my life. The contractions were right on top of each other and I was having to force myself to breath through them, when my body was trying to tell me to push. Through the entire time we sat there, I needed Evan, Taryn and Rebecca to be there with me through every single contraction. My body was telling me to push. The midwives were telling me to breath through them. Taryn told me to be open and listen to my body. That as long as I physically could breath through the contractions, I wasn’t ready to push. When it was time, I would know. I kept asking her how many more contractions she was going to make me go through. She said she didn’t want to talk about numbers, she hated numbers, and we were going to let my body lead the way. She was sitting behind me, supporting my weight as I leaned back on her through each contraction. Evan was sitting to my right, whispering to me and helping me through each wave. He kept repeating, “Be still and know. Wait patiently for Him. Your babies are your gift” – all things that I had been repeating to myself over and over again for the past 6 hours. Rebecca was on the other side of me, offering her hand to me through each contraction.

Finally, Taryn told me we were going to get through two more contractions on the toilet and then we’d go back to the bed. Once we did this, they lifted me and helped me to the bedroom.

I laid down on my side and once again, she told me she wanted me to breath through a few more contractions. If I felt the need to push, she wanted me to do tiny, grunting, practice pushes, but to try not to bear down. She kept repeating that I needed to listen to my body. My body would know what to do.

By this time, Evan had donned his third pair of gloves because Taryn knew it was important to him to deliver the baby himself, just as he had with Evalyn, so each time we had thought it was time to push, he got ready. I also made it clear that when it was time, I wanted the mirror in sight.

I managed to breath through a few more contractions laying on my side in the bed, having my right leg supported by Megan, the secondary midwife. Finally, my body told me that there was no way I could breath through another contraction. I apologized to Taryn and said, “Sorry, but I’m pushing. This baby is coming out”.

At this point, I had Evan in the tightest headlock known to man, and Taryn later said that she had tried to swap places with him, since she knew he wanted to catch, but that she quickly realized that there was no way she was getting him out of that hold.

With the next few contractions, Megan lifted my leg for me and I pushed, all while watching what was happening in the mirror. I know many women don’t have any interest in watching what is happening, but for me, it was the best decision ever. I was able to put a visual to the sensations I was feeling and push more effectively. I’m confident that watching her be born contributed to the minimal damage that was done to my body during her birth.

I pushed one strong push during a contraction and saw the top of her head crowning. I remember praising God and saying “My baby, my baby, my baby” over and over again. I could see her. She was right there.

Right at this point, I also started vomiting. Sure, it doesn’t make for a pretty end to the story, but it happened so I am writing about it. I turned my face and threw up, and almost immediately, and miraculously there was a bowl placed there. A bowl which I missed as I continued to throw up through the rest of the delivery. Later, after she was born, Evan let me know that in the midst of this puke fest, while I had him in a headlock, I was actually vomiting down the side of his face. And yet, he stood there, let me pin him down with puke on his face, and cried as he also watched our child enter the world. That, my friends? That is true love.

With the next few contractions, I watched as the crown of her head turned into an entire head and face and then, with tears streaming down my face and phrases of awe and praise coming from my lips, I breathed as the rest of my baby came into the world.

Seven minutes.

Once I got over convincing myself I could have control of this labour, and let my body take the lead, she was born in seven minutes.

She was immediately placed on my chest and I looked to see that she was a girl. I, along with Evan, both of our mothers and Taryn, were all shocked to see that she was a girl.

I gave thanks to God, and started kissing and loving on my Gwennie. She was perfect.

And suddenly, every single contraction, every single pain – every little bit of it – was gone. My baby was in my arms. Safe. Healthy. Beautiful.

My sweet baby girl.

7:08 am was the time of her birth and her Big Sister woke up just before 7:15 am (again – can you say God moment?). When she woke up, our bedroom door was shut and she was greeted by one of her Nana’s and taken outside to meet up with Grandpa and Papa for a fun day of breakfast at the truck stop, playing at the park and going out for pizza for lunch.

Over the next few hours, we spent our time getting to know Gwen. She nursed wonderfully for the first time. In fact, the midwives asked me if I was still nursing Evalyn because the amount she was gulping was unusual for a first feed. She had her newborn exam and was weighed at 8lbs4oz and 21.5 inches long. She met her grandparents. Snuggled with her Mommy and Daddy and then later in the day, met her big sister for the first time.

Her birth was perfect. An indescribable reflection of the beauty of God’s creation. A miracle, really.

We praise Him, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Happy Birthday Gwennie–part 3

(Click here for parts one and two).

So, as you’ll recall, I had just gone to bed, praying for peace and for wisdom, when I rolled over, felt a pop and felt something watery. Believe it or not, my first reaction wasn’t that my water had broken. The reason for this was because in the week’s leading up to delivery, I had been using Evening Primrose Oil, which is said to be a cervix softener (sorry if this is TMI for any of you, but it’s the story, so deal). I normally put it in immediately before bed, but as I wrote in part two, I had gone to bed and then gotten back up that night. I thought that maybe the oil just hadn’t had a chance to absorb and was leaking. I rolled over and attempted to “adjust” myself and quickly realized it wasn’t just a little bit.

I jumped out of bed and ran to the washroom – probably faster than I had moved in a long, long time – and called to Evan. He came running and I said “My water broke. At least I think it did”. He checked out the situation and I asked what he thought. He said he would have expected it to be more if it was my water, but what else could it be? We decided that the baby was probably low, making it so that not a ton came out, but that it was definitely my water. I was soaked through my underwear and all down my legs. We grabbed the Midwife binder and reviewed protocol for if my water broke during the night. Since I had not started contractions and everything about my water breaking was on the normal side, my instructions told me to get things prepared and then go back to bed and try to get some rest to gear up for labour and page to let them know at 6 am, if labour had not begun.

So, that we did. We made the bed and arranged the final birth supplies and also called our parents. Mine were already in town but Evan’s parents had a three hour drive. We weren’t sure if/when my contractions would start on their own, but we did know that regardless of whether or not I started on my own, we would be having a baby within 24-48 hours, and so they decided to go ahead and head down to be sure they didn’t miss it. They planned to head to Marcia and Linda’s when they arrived in town and just wait for the call that things were moving along.

By the time we got everything arranged and put together, it was about midnight. I took a few pictures, Evan scolded me and told me we needed to rest and save our energy, and we laid down. He was out like a light within seconds. I, of course, was not. I was trying to keep myself calm and remind myself it could be a number of hours before anything started but I was so excited. I was going to have my baby! I immediately thought how God had answered my prayers of anxiety and most definitely given me a way to know, for sure, that it was the real deal this time. I knew that no matter how it progressed – the baby was coming.

I laid in bed, willing my mind and body to calm down so I could rest when the first contraction hit me at exactly 12:30. And hit me, it did. Like, whoa. It was hard, long and intense and left me having to catch my breath. I laid still for a few more minutes waiting and bam! the next one followed a few minutes later. Because my early labour with Evalyn progressed and built up very gradually, I was not sure how to deal with the intensity of these contractions right from the start. I got through two or three more on my own and then I felt like there was no choice but to wake Evan up. Having to do this worried me. A lot. If I couldn’t get through more than 4-5 of these contractions on my own without seeking his support, how would I make it to the end?

It was about 1 am when I woke him up, we got up and tried to move around a bit as he helped me cope through the contractions. In the next few minutes, I soaked through another two or three pairs of pants and all the while the contractions were getting much stronger, closer together and much more intense. However, as time progressed they started getting much shorter. Between 1:30-2 am was the only time during my labour that I timed the contractions. They were coming 2 minutes apart, lasting 30-45 seconds as opposed to the initial contractions which were lasting 45 seconds to a minute and a half.

I knew I wasn’t ready to page the midwives because we were still dealing well on our own, but I also knew things weren’t slowing down. I started praying that it would go quickly – because the intensity was building in a way I never experienced with Evalyn – and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep my endurance up for a labour like this. I tried to keep my mind focused on baby steps - taking one contraction at a time, waiting to call our moms, waiting until it was time to page and so on.

Around 1:30 I sent Evan outside to get all the doors unlocked and lights on for the midwives and our mom’s so that he wouldn’t have to leave my side later on, because I knew from my last experience that when labour gets tough – the number one thing I need to cope is having him beside me. He called my mom and told her to head over. He called his parents and told his Dad to drop his mom off at our place instead of heading to Marcia and Linda’s first.

We started struggling with knowing when would be the right time to page. Of course, I didn’t want to page too early and wake the midwives up unnecessarily but I also didn’t want to wait too long since they had warned me that based on my experience delivering Evalyn, things might go very quick.

My mom arrived just before 2, as Evan and I were getting in the shower to clean up my legs and hopefully get some relief from the pain of the contractions. The water didn’t give me the relief I had hoped it would so we didn’t stay in there for more than a few contractions. When we got out, my mom had arrived and we started talking seriously about when it would be time to page.

To be continued…

*Sidenote: I am sorry about the multiple part posting. I’m not trying to be dramatic and cliff hanger’ish, but I want to capture every single detail and I also have limited time to sit down and write between naps/feeds/diaper changes and so on. Stay with me!*

The Choice for Homebirth

A while back I posted a homebirth Q&A. I only got a few questions on that post, but they were all great ones. Before I go on to answer the specific questions, I will tell you a bit about why we chose to have a homebirth.

Let me first say that I definitely do not believe that homebirth is for everyone. Both partners need to feel comfortable with the idea or otherwise, it will never work. I don't want to give anyone the impression that I think that hospitals are bad for birthing babies or that everyone should give birth at home (or have a natural childbirth, for that matter). That is not the case - each person, and each birth is unique and you must make these decision based on your own circumstances and convictions. I would love to say that all my babies will be born naturally, in our home, but I don't know if that will be the case or not. My pregnancy and labor with Evalyn was very straight forward, with no complications, which allowed us the option this time around. We'll see what happens next time.

With all that being said, let me explain the three main beliefs that I had/have that influenced my decision to plan a homebirth.

1. I believe that my body was designed by God to give birth to children and that, in most circumstances, childbirth can be achieved with minimal intervention. Further, I believe that birth should not be viewed as a medical emergency but rather, a right of passage for both baby and mother.

2. I had confidence in the fact that my midwives were well trained and qualified and would be able to provide valuable guidance throughout my pregnancy, labor, and delivery. I also believed that in the event that something occurred and my body was not able to perform the task at hand, that the midwives would help us make the necessary decisions, always keeping my baby's best interest as the focus.

3. The final belief ties into the first two - I had confidence that God would be in control. One of my labor verses was "Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go". If was the "wherever you go" part that I focused on - I knew that God would be in control and protect us regardless of whether we delivered at home or in hospital. During my pregnancy I spent a great deal of time praying that God would give me the physical and emotional strength that I needed to achieve a natural birth. I also prayed that He would grant all of us involved - me, the Dude, the midwives - with sound judgement and discernment so that we would make the right decisions.

With those beliefs in mind, we decided to plan for a homebirth and go with the flow. I wasn't in it to be a hero and I knew that it might not work out and if we changed our minds and decided to (or needed to) go to the hospital, that would be fine, as well. We felt it was wiser to plan for a homebirth and have the possibility of transferring to the hospital than plan for a hospital birth and decide we wanted to stay at home, without things set up and ready.

With all that in mind, I got three questions about homebirth from other bloggers ....

Katie asked if it took a lot of convincing for the Dude to be comfortable with the idea of a homebirth and midwives.


It actually took no convincing at all. I always knew, long before we conceived, that I would want to have midwives and he had no problem with that as we share many of the same convictions. We had also often talked about the possibility of homebirth, although, we both kind of had the assumption that you just don't do homebirths with your first baby. When we first found out we were pregnant, I brought up the subject and the Dude said no, he didn't want to have a homebirth this time. However, after our first two meetings with our midwives, gaining valuable information, he changed his mind. Then, for a few months, he wanted a homebirth and I was saying no, but eventually, we both got on the homebirth page and started to get very excited about the possibility of welcoming our child into the world in our own home. Throughout the entire pregnancy, our plan was to labor at home as long as possible and if that meant that the baby popped out at home, then great ... if not, that would be okay, too.


Laura asked what brought us to the decision to have a homebirth.

I think this question was mostly answered in everything I've written so far.


Joanna asked about safety. Particularly, she asked if I was very far from a hospital, what the midwives protocol would be for transferring to a hospital, and if the midwives do Vitamin K shots at home.


We live about 10-15 minutes away from the closest hospital, if you are driving "normally". Of course, if necessary, the Dude (or an ambulance) could have gotten me there much faster. The main premise is that planned homebirths in low risk pregnancies, assisted by qualified midwives in an area close to a hospital are just as safe as hospital births for a number of reasons. One of those is the 20 minute rule. Even if you are in the hospital and get to the point where you need an emergency C-section, it will likely be at least 20 minutes until you are actually in surgery. This is because OR's need to be prepped, nurses and doctors need to be called in, the patient needs to be prepped etc. If it came down to me needing an unexpected, emergency c-section, I would have still be able to be in surgery within 20 minutes because the midwives would call the hospital and the ambulance and all that "prep" work would be done while I was en route to the hospital.

Further, it is relatively uncommon to need a C-section very quickly without any warning signs earlier in the labor. Much of the time, things have happened earlier on that would indicate the possibility of needing a c-section (baby showing signs of distress, failure to progress resulting in pitocin drip etc), and I would have been already been transferred to hospital.

The midwives monitored the baby's heart rate every 20-30 minutes early in labor and then every 10-15 as things progressed. They also checked my blood pressure and temperature a number of times throughout the day. I wasn't constantly hooked up to machines, but I never felt as though things weren't being monitored.

If I had decided (or needed) to transfer to hospital, the protocol would have depended on the situation. If it were for pain relief, or because things just weren't progressing, then we would have all gotten in our cars and driven there. If it were an emergency, an ambulance would have been called. I was registered with the local hospital so my paperwork was already done in the event of a transfer.

And finally, the midwives did the Vitamin K shot and the eye ointment here at home after she was born.

If anyone has any other questions about homebirth (whether it be our experience or homebirth in general) send them my way!

Eva's Birth Story: Part Four

Don't forget to check out Parts 1, 2 and 3 of Eva's birth story.

My water had been broken at 11 am, and by shortly before 1 pm, I told my midwives that I desperately needed to push. They helped me through a few more contractions in the bathroom and then the Dude assisted me back to the bedroom where I was checked to see if I was at 10 cm and ready.

Colleen was the one to check me this time and immediately, she said "Oh, there's the head. She's ready". I remember hearing Carrie instruct her to go ahead and call Taryn (the secondary midwife would comes when birth is imminent to take care of the baby). When instructing me how to push, Colleen put pressure on the place where she said I should feel the pushing. They told me to get into whatever position was most comfortable and they would coach me.

This was definitely the stage of labor where I received the most coaching from my midwives, and it was very beneficial. They gave me suggestions of different positions. I decided to try on my side. With each contraction, the Dude would lift my right leg so that I could maximize the effectiveness of the pushing. The midwives instructed me to try to get three good, strong pushes in with each contraction. As one contraction peaked, I was to give a good push, take a short breath, another push, short breath, and another push. After a few series of pushes on my side, I decided it just wasn't working for me.

I decided then to get on my hands and knees and try pushing that way. With the very first series of pushes, I knew that this was going to get the job done. I could just tell that it was effective and helping bring my baby out.

I was definitely in the zone by this point, I don't remember a whole lot, like the Dude putting a warm cloth on my back and neck with each push, but I do remember hearing everyone in the room cheer me on with each push.

It wasn't long until I heard the Dude say that he could see her hair. I wanted to see with a mirror but there wasn't really time, or I didn't ask, I'm not sure. A few more pushes and I was told that her head was now visible even between pushes. My baby was really almost here.

I asked if I could touch it, and they guided my hand down to feel my baby's hair. The secondary midwife, Taryn, arrived just in time. When she walked in the door, the Dude didn't realize who was coming in and thought it was our neighbor, so he said "Excuse me, what are you doing?" ... Poor Taryn.

I remember hearing the Dude say, "I want to catch, where are my gloves?" Quickly the midwives got him situated and started explaining to him what he would need to do.

They told me to keep pushing with strong pushes, until they told me to stop and then they wanted me to breath (hee hee haw type breaths) as my baby's head came out. They said it would be hard to stop pushing but they would help me.

A few more pushes and they said, "You're almost there. Okay, stop and breath your baby out".

I'm not sure which midwife it was, but one of them got right in my face at this point and helped guide my breathing so that it was effective.

The rest is kind of a blur.

Her head was out, along with her tiny hand (which she began sucking on as soon as she could) and then her shoulders were out, and then, quite literally, the rest of her just popped out. My baby was welcomed into the world by her Daddy. Colleen also had her hands on her the entire time, but the Dude did most of it.

The Dude and the midwives passed her to me, I saw my sweet baby's face for the first time and I fell in love.

I was the one who got to look and see what kind of Monkey we got. I'm not sure why, but this was very important to me - I wanted to be the one to tell everyone, "It's a girl" and I did.

I smothered my baby with kisses, told her how much I loved her, that I had waited for her and I thanked God for bringing her to us safely. At this point, I realized just how true one of my labor Scriptures really was ....

Whenever a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her time has come, but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the JOY that a CHILD has been BORN into the world".
- John 16:21

The next few hours were spent taking care of all of the "post birth" stuff ... the placenta was delivered, I was stitched up, and she was examined, weighed and so on. The midwives helped us get started with breastfeeding, and made sure that everything was in order. They stayed with us for about three or four hours following her birth, had lunch with us, and made sure we were all comfortable before they left.

She was so excited to meet her Daddy, Nana and Auntie Katie right after she was born.

Our family.

We were so blessed to have a straight forward, normal labor and delivery for our sweet girl. Here we are with the midwives who helped bring Eva into the world. The plaque on our wall says it all: "Home is where your story begins".

I can't wait until Eva grows and is able to hear all about how her story began.

Thank you all for your prayers and love as we waited for Eva and thank you for allowing us to share her story with you.

Eva's Birth Story: Part Three

If you need to catch up, you can read the first two parts of our birth story here and here. As a refresher, I had started into early labor in the evening on Tuesday, spent the evening and night in and out of the bathroom (um, did I mention I used SEVEN rolls of toilet paper over the course of my labor?Um, yeah, at least I didn't have to worry about pooping during delivery.TMI? Sorry), resting between contractions and floating in the bathtub. Things progressed through the night and by 7 am I was around 5 cms and starting into active labor. I labored through the morning and when we left off in part two, it was 11 am, the midwives checked my dilation, found that I was sitting between 7 and 8 cms and broke my water.

Before doing so, they explained that breaking the water can often shorten labor by 30-45 minutes but is also quite likely to send the contractions to the next level in terms of intensity. They were right. I counted on my Dude during the transitional stage of labor so much. He was there with me through every single contraction - talking to me, hanging on to me, kissing me, breathing with me, and dancing with me (I'm talking a slow, steady rocking type dance - we weren't doing no macarana!)

The midwives suggested that I try getting back into the bathtub as many women find that the weightlessness of the water can help counteract the intensity of the contractions. We decided to give it a try. While in the water, things changed. It got hard. Super hard. After the fact, my mom and Katie said that they could hear me from the kitchen while I was in the tub and they knew that things were getting difficult for me. I needed much more direction in terms of keeping my pitch low and if the Dude didn't help me breath through each contraction, I had trouble getting on top of them. I remember saying to him a few times, "I need to own these contractions. Help me own them. I can't get control" and each time, he would tell me to keep my shoulders down, let out the tension through my bum and out my toes ... and it worked. I was able to get back on top of the contractions and take them one at a time. The most important thing, I found, was to never alow myself think about the contraction that had just passed and likewise, to never think about the next one coming. It was so crucial to focus on getting through the contraction I was having at the time, and that was it. I also remember feeling so though I needed to vomit a lot during this time, so we were carrying a bowl around with us, but I managed to get through without getting sick.

It was during this point in labor that people started to talk about my baby a lot. I heard many comments such as "these contractions are bringing your baby down", "help your baby move down", "your baby is coming". Those are the things that kept me going. I knew I was soon going to meet Eva (although I did not yet know that she would be Eva).

After a little while (I have no idea how long because my concept of time at this point was gone) I decided I didn't like the tub so thought I should go back to the exercise ball because I had liked it so much throughout the rest of my labour. But, I didn't. I only spent a small amount of time there and then said I needed to get to the toilet (roll of toilet paper #8?!?). The Dude helped me to the washroom and I had the urge to sit backwards. Colleen told me this is generally a very effective position for bringing the baby down and encouraged me to keep my feet flat on the floor. They assured me that no matter what, they would not let my baby fall out into the toilet. To be honest, that thought never crossed my mind.

They kept telling me that this was the hardest part, I was almost done, just a few more contractions. I remember feeling somewhat irrational at this point - in fact, I even asked "How many more?" once, knowing full well that no one could tell me. Colleen said, "Just a few more, you're almost done." I remember wanting to snap at her, and tell her that I knew I wasn't that close because they hadn't even called the second midwife yet.

While I was on the toilet, I lost my plug and got the bloody show, which I hadn't seen yet, so I knew that was a good sign. Shortly after, I started to feel an intense urge to push. They told me it was okay to do some "little practice grunts" so I started with that. It was not long, however, until I told them that "little grunts" were not enough and that I needed to PUSH! Carrie asked me to try to get through three more contractions on the toilet and then I could make my way back to the bedroom. I got through those last three and then the Dude took me under my arms and assisted me back to the room. I think I had about three very strong contractions in the 20 foot or so walk back to the room, where I remember bending my knees, bearing down and pushing a little. And, man ... did that feel good. I also remember noticing that during my time in the bathroom, the midwives had moved all of their equipment into our room and set everything up. Maybe I was almost done, afterall.

I got back to the bedroom, got situated on the bed and Colleen checked to see how close to complete I was...

A Homebirth Funny

I didn't get a chance to write the next few parts of Eva's birth story over the course of the weekend but I wanted to give you something, so I thought I'd write this little post about a home birth funny.

Over the course of my pregnancy, I was surprised that when I told people about our plans for home birth, one of the things that they asked about most was the placenta. This was surprising to me that this aspect of birth was one that people were most interested in in terms of how it would go down at home.

Most commonly, the question was/is, "So, what do you do with the placenta?"

The answer is this: you bury it. Well, at least that's one option. When she was born we were informed that it is now allowed to put it in the garbage, but burying it is the recommended option.

And, because our number one priority following her birth was not having the Dude go out and a dig a 6 foot hole to bury it, the midwives just told us to pop it in the freezer and bury it later.

The idea of having a placenta in our freezer is one that many of our friends found rather amusing as we prepared for our home birth. Some people informed us that they would be scared to go get ice cream or something, in case they grabbed the wrong container.

So, we found it highly amusing when BFF's mom and sister delivered this lasagna to us the other night:

I'm sure any guests visiting us will be glad for this clarfiication :)

28 Weeks

Here we are at 28 weeks! Other than being accused of having a three week old baby and already being 6.5 months pregnant again, the week has been good. It's been hot but thankfully my aunt and uncle and their pool live just down the road so I got to go cool off and refresh last night.

I had a midwife appointment yesterday and BFF came with me and got to hear the little Monkey's heartbeat. It was hovering right around 160 ... indicating, according to the Wive's Tale, that baby is a she. But, the heart rate is flip flopped between a boy rate and a girl rate at every single appointment. One time it's a boy, the next a girl. I think baby really does not want us to know!

I have now reached the point where I will start seeing my midwives every second week. Seriously, where did the time go? I have the next three appointments book ... and then I will be FULL TERM, and will start seeing them every single week until the baby's arrival! I know that having 12 weeks to go is actually still quite a while but when I see it broken down like that, it feels like it's just around the corner.

At my appointment yesterday I met the third midwife from my team so now I have met with each of them at least once and will start rotating through them at my coming appointments. I was sad to learn that the student midwife is finishing up her placement this week - I was really hoping she'd still be around to be at my birth. I really liked her!

I found out that I passed my glucose screening test. Whoo hoo. I am so glad. I mean, I obviously did not want to have gestational diabetes, but I am also glad that I do not have to do the three hour fasting test. Fasting = fail.

She told me that my iron looks a little bit low, but not much lower than what is often common at this stage of pregnancy. She said it's nothing to worry about really although I should focus on increasing my intake of iron rich foods and that I may notice a difference in my energy levels. She suggested eating more green vegetables and meat. Considering I am heading up north for my family reunion this weekend, where I will be co-existing with a group of carnivores for 4 days, I have a feeling I'll consume more than enough meat. And, our swiss chard and beet tops are ready in the garden so when I get home, I will start adding a daily dose of those to my diet and see if that does the trick.

We also discussed my plans for birth place a little bit more. I'm not sure if I've talked about this on the blog yet - but we are planning to prepare for a home birth. We have numerous reasons for this decision, but I will leave all of that for another post.

She also poked around my belly to see if she could determine baby's position. Although she said it's still a bit early to determine by touch, and there is a chance that the baby will still flip around, she said that she's pretty sure the Monkey is head down and it's quite possible he'll stay that way now. She said that she could feel something big and round near the top (baby's got back), and something more tennis ball like at the bottom. I wasn't surprised because I have been seeing something that seems to me that it could be a bum glide back and forth over the top of my belly over the past few days. So, take that Transverse Baby Lady, you were wrong.

I think that is about all I have in the way of pregnancy updates ... the height of my uterus (27 cm), weight gain, and inches gained around my belly (12) are right on track so things are looking good. I have been starting to feel quite achy in my hips and ankles (which is not that much different from how I feel not pregnant - I have always had achy joints, especially in the heat) but I am hoping to keep that under control by upping my fluid intake and propping my legs up when necessary... I won't tell you that I didn't take diclectin last night and wasn't sick this morning because I do not want to jinx myself.

I'm leaving tomorrow to head north for my family reunion so I will be back next week with lots of pictures, stories, and likely another garden update because things have been growing like crazy out there!

Have a great weekend, friends. I will leave you with another super funny maternity shirt that I wish I had ....

(source)

If you can't read it, it says "I may be huge, but at least I don't stay stupid things to pregnant women".

The Midwifery Choice

Lately, I have received a number of e-mails from fellow bloggers inquiring about my choice to have a midwife for my pregnancy, labour, and postpartum care. Because of these e-mails, I decided that it might be helpful for me to write a post explaining exactly why I considered it important and valuable to have a midwife care for me during this season in my life. If you are pregnant, ever have been pregnant, or might someday be pregnant, you may find this post interesting. If you are not interested in midwifery care, feel free to skip!

Also, I know that midwifery care differs somewhat depending on your location so this post is based solely on my experience having a midwife in Ontario. Therefore, all the info might not pertain to your particular location or situation.

Essentially, in choosing to have a midwife for my pregnancy/birth/PP care, I have chosen to have her as my sole care provider. My midwife (or midwives, rather) are the only care providers I will see throughout the course of my pregnancy, during my delivery, and for 6 weeks postpartum, unless there are any situations that arise that require the consultation or transfer of care to an OB or other specialist. I no longer see my family doctor for care regarding my pregnancy. If I have other, non-pregnancy related concerns, I would continue to take them to my family doctor.

I chose a midwife primarily because it is my goal to have a natural birth without any medical interventions. I know that this may not be possible, and of course, my baby's safety will be the ultimate concern, but that is my goal and so I felt that it was important to have a care provider who would support, encourage, and help me plan and prepare based on that decision. I know it's definitely possible to have a natural birth with a doctor, but in most cases, the doctor only comes in during the last bit of your labor, and so most of the time you are being assisted by nurses. You can't for see or plan who you will have ahead of time or how they will react to your decision. Since my midwife will be my sole care provider throughout the entire pregnancy and labour (and will stay with me the entire time) I feel that she will be a great help because I will have her there to help me prepare and to encourage me and remind me of my goals. She will know well in advance of the time that I go into labour what my desires are and will be able to assist me in that regard.

There are three major aspects of midwifery care that I find very appealing and are what drew me to it.

1. Viewing pregnancy, labour, and childbirth as a normal thing. In a book that I am currently reading, "Birthing From Within" the authors make a statement about the philosophical assumptions of their writing that really sums up this belief. They suggest that "childbirth is a profound rite of passage, not a medical event (even when medical care is part of the birth)". That type of attitude and philosophy is one that resonates with my personal beliefs about birth. Having a care provider who respects and holds those beliefs as well is very important to me. That being said, while my midwives view birth as a natural, normal process, they also understand that there are times when emergencies and difficult situations arise and medical interventions are necessary to ensure the health of the mother and the baby. They are well trained to deal with many of these situations and I am confident that my midwife would never ever withhold medical care or hesitate to transfer me to an OB or other specialist if a need for care she cannot provide arises.

2. Personal, patient-centered and patient-led approach to care. Midwife appointments are longer and more personal than what you may receive from a doctor. At each appointment, I am always scheduled 30-45 minutes so I have lots of time with them. Also, the clinic that I am in care with works on a team based approach. I am assigned to a team of three midwives, who I will meet with over the course of my pregnancy (so far I have met 2 of 3). At any given time, one midwife from each team is on call for labours and other emergencies. By using this approach, the chance of me having to wait a long time for a scheduled appointment or for me having to see a different midwife than one I am familiar with is eliminated. One of my midwives will be in the clinic for each appointment that I schedule. Further, this approach ensures that when I go into labor I will be assisted by one of my three midwives. Having the reassurance that the care provider who will assist me in labour will be someone who knows me is very desirable to me.

They also approach care in a very patient centered way. As I mentioned before, there is not a huge focus on the medicalization of pregnancy unless it is necessary (hello! The clinic looks like a spa - not hospital gowns or stirrups in sight!) and they work under the assumption that an expectant mother often knows what is best for her and her baby. Therefore, as an expectant mother, I can be confident in the fact that I will be thoroughly involved in all decisions regarding the care of myself and my baby. They are open to a variety of options and are highly supportive of both home and hospital births.

Also, the midwives I see aren't overly concerned with specific details such as weight gain. This has been a tremendously positive aspect of care for me. When I was still seeing my family doctor, the prenatal nurse placed a huge emphasis on the number of pounds gained/lost. Since I was very sick at the beginning of my pregnancy, I lost a significant amount of weight. I got to the point where I started to feel guilty about this and worried about putting my unborn baby at a disadvantage. My midwives have eased these concerns and have helped me readjust my attitude to be focused on healthy eating and healthy living rather than focusing specifically on the number of pounds I gain or do not gain. This attitude works really well for me. In fact, they don't even weigh me at my appointments, but offer a scale in the washroom so I can keep track of my own weight on an accurate scale on a month by month basis. Unless they see a problem (i.e. gaining way too much, or way too little) they are more concerned with ensuring that I am healthy.

3. Postpartum care. Lastly, I chose a midwife because of the level of postpartum care I will receive. The on-call midwife from my team will come to my house when I go into labor and monitor me at home until it's time to progress to the hospital (or help continue labour at home if a home birth is planned) that way I will be able to labour at home as long as possible and don't have to worry about showing up at the hospital way to early. She will then accompany me to the hospital and remain with me throughout active labour and delivery. Then, when I am discharged she will come to my house within 24 hours, 2 days, 5 days and 7 days to check on us. Also, there is a 24 paging service so if anything happens, she will come more often. A friend of a friend had her midwife from this same clinic come every day for the first 2 weeks because she was having difficulty breast feeding. Then, I will go to the clinic at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks where she will check up on both baby and myself. After 6 weeks, I will go back to my regular doctor and resume care there.

Perhaps I should have broken this post up into a three part series, it ended up becoming quite a bit longer than I had anticipated but I hope that if midwifery care is something you are interested in, you may have found something in this post that was somewhat helpful or interesting. I am by no means an expert, as I am pretty new to all of this myself, but I would be happy to (try to) answer any questions you have.

These are some of the main reasons that I found midwifery care to be appealing to me. I am not saying that this is the right choice for everyone or that midwives are better than obstetricians or other doctors. I am also not saying that the choices I have made and the viewpoints I have will be right for everyone. Simply, the care that is provided by midwives seems to align more closely with my personal beliefs and so I was most comfortable going this route for my pregnancy and birth.