Today is my little baby Sage's first birthday! I can't believe how quickly this last year flew by. I can vividly remember his birth and those first few weeks, but everything else is a blur.
This picture is just a small example of how curious and into everything this little guy is!
Happy Birthday Baby Sage! Our lives wouldn't be nearly as exciting without you. In honor of this sweet baby's big day I thought I would re-post his birth story. I hope you enjoy!
~I'm not exactly sure when to say my labor actually started. I had been having mild contractions sporadically for a while now, maybe a few weeks. Nothing really uncomfortable, just notable. So when I woke up at about 3 that morning with some stronger contractions I wasn't sure what to make of it. They weren't uncomfortable enough to make me get out of bed, just enough to keep me up. So for about 3 hours they were about 15 minutes apart. Then they stopped. Then around 8:30 in the morning they started up again, but still pretty weak and 10-20 minutes apart. I sent my hubby off to work, and called my midwife Rachel just to give her a heads up that I might be having a baby. So that's how it went all day. Weak contractions that were 10-20 minutes apart. I called Rachel again to ask her what I could do to get things moving because I just wanted to get on with it. We just decided that I should nap and maybe take a bath and if things were still slow I would start taking black and blue cohosh.
I was feeling fine, just wanted a break so I could take a nap and a bath, so I called my husband to come home at about 4:30. I didn't want to wait for him to come home to take a bath, so I asked Vaeh if she could come play in our room with Joby while I bathed alone. Around 4:45 in the bath I thought maybe baby is scared to come, so I talked to him and told him that I loved him and wanted to meet him very much and that he would be okay if he decided to come. About two minutes later the contractions picked up in intensity and speed. Thankfully Aaron got home at 5:10 and took the kids. It was a little crazy there for a while trying to mother my children while having contractions that I couldn't talk through.
Now, if you knew me well, I hate inconveniencing people. At my last birth my midwife Rachel got there about 15 minutes before my son Joby was born. I'm just never sure if the contractions I'm having are going to pan out or not, and I hate to have anybody drive out just to turn around and go home. So that's where I was at in the bathtub. I told Aaron that I needed to get out and maybe we should fill up the birthing pool, but first I wanted to check myself to see how far I was. For those of you who think that is weird or gross, in my defense I wold rather check myself than have anyone else do it. Who can argue with that logic, right? Anywho, before my bath I was at a 4, and after I was probably around 6 or 7 and my water was bulging out. So that's when I decided I probably needed to have Rachel come. I think it was about 5:40 at this point. Once I was out of the bath I thought to myself I probably should have called her sooner because the labor all of a sudden got super intense. I knew from my last labor that once the back labor is that intense baby is soon to follow, and Rachel lives 40 minutes away.
So I'm just hoping that I'm wrong, and trying as best I can to hold things off, but as much as I would like, I don't have that kind of super control over my body. In the mean time, my daughter Vaeh is a pro. She is helping push on my back while Aaron is moving as fast as he can to blow up and fill the pool. She is soooo excited that baby Sage is finally going to come, and Joby is just content to be watching How to Train Your Dragon in Vaeh's room coming in every few minutes to see what mommy is moaning about. No big deal. I was so concerned that they both were going to be a problem or that they might freak out to see me that way, but I was wrong. It was awesome to have them there!
Once the pool has enough water for me to get in (it wasn't full all the way, but there was probably about a foot, which was enough for me) I decide to move from the living room to the kitchen. As soon as I get into the kitchen I have a really strong contraction that breaks my water. That couldn't have been more perfect because I would have really hated to have to clean that up! After my water broke I had a brief relief of pressure which was very much welcomed. Aaron called Rachel to tell her my water had broken and see where she was. I was really wanting her their for support. Aaron is great, but he stresses, so I really love me some woman support. She was still 10 minutes away. So Aaron decides to change his clothes so he can get in the pool with me. And that's when I knew Rachel wasn't going to make it. I screamed for Aaron to come back, in a voice that must have sounded like I was possessed, telling him the baby was coming NOW! For a brief second I freaked and thought I couldn't do it alone, but then I calmed down, and womaned up. I KNEW that I was going to do it, and that I COULD do it. So I reached down and sure enough his head is right there crowning. I provided perineal support so as not to tear and his head was out! Whew, I did it! Well, partly. I reached down and felt his head while waiting for the next contraction to free me. I knew he was big, because I did the same for my last birth and his head was definitely chunkier than Joby's. For another brief second I was worried that his shoulders would get stuck, so as much as I wanted to catch him, I told Aaron to get behind me so that I could get on my hands and knees to push harder. Sure enough he came out after that contraction welcomed into the hands of his daddy.
Aaron handed him to me, and I freaked a little. He was a blueish purple color and wasn't breathing. I had eyes and ears only for him at this point, but Aaron told me later that the kids were right there watching as Sage came out and were laughing and giggling that he was finally here. I wish I had video of all of this. Anywho, so I began to do everything that I can think of to help my son start breathing. Rachel had taught me how to do a rescue breath, so I did that as well as talked to him and told him that I loved him and rubbed him. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably more like 5 or 10 seconds he looks up at me and takes a big breath and begins to cry! The world is at peace again. and then after all is rosy Rachel and her apprentice walk through the door. They probably missed his birth by 5 minutes!
Baby Sage, looking very wise :)
Rachel helped me deliver his afterbirth and then we cleaned up and went to snuggle up in our bed while Rachel weighed, measured, and checked on baby.
So that's it. Aaron is so proud and loves telling everyone that we did it ourselves. I think he was pretty freaked out, but he knew I needed him and he did AWESOME! For me, it was awesome to know that I could do it myself. Very empowering! Don't get me wrong, I don't EVER plan to do that again, because it was scary. I think next time I'll just have her camp out while I have contractions all day. But it was really cool to just have our family there, and my kids giggling, with my husband catching the baby. It was very intimate, and I wouldn't take it back for anything.~
Proud new mommy!
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