beth is a bradley birth instructor. she is no stranger to the intricacies of the labor process. in fact, it was funny to hear her giving real time reports on her own emotional signposts and stages of labor -- until the end when she was too in the zone to continue that job, and her midwives and doula took over. :)
this baby was due before Christmas, and as her first two babies were both early, she suspected this one would be too. but no, he waited until 5 days after christmas -- 11 days after her due date -- to make his appearance.
it was their first home birth, and it happened in the coziness of a christmas tree-lit home in the dark of the night as the snow was swirling softly outside. beth's birth team was so lovely. her hubby, tommy, was the perfect blend of adoring strength and well-placed humor. her doula, laurie, who is also a midwife-in-training under beth's midwife, had a million helpful tricks -- from essential oils to robozo to guided meditation to massage -- and utilized them with such grace. and her midwives, sara and annie, sat by knitting quietly, expressing with their demeanors that they had full confidence in beths' ability to birth her baby, then stepping in with active support as the birth became eminent.
one fantastic thing about home births is how you never can really predict where precisely that baby will get born! this is especially true if the mama tends to pace and move around a lot, like beth did. so, it was on a trip to the bathroom that the need to push became irresistible, and where beth then kneeled -- her midwife and doula on the floor on either side of her, her husband's hand on her back -- and pushed little baby j out in three deft pushes.
jameson took to breastfeeding right away, was measured without ever leaving his mama's chest, and weighed the following morning because the scale couldn't be located! haha. he was every bit as big as the birth team was guessing he was -- 9 lbs, 12 oz, and beth's biggest baby by far. also, he's a bit of a ginger!
for me, it was a gift to witness this birth, especially as i'm gearing up to have my own home birth in about 3 months. seeing a woman move through labor and birth in the quiet of her own home, with no intervention, and an abundance of trusting support reminded me how we really are designed to do this work of having babies -- and that includes me -- and rekindled my excitement to do it again myself.
without more rambling from me, here is the birth of jameson!
I'll write a separate post about this, too, but just a heads up on my maternity leave... it will begin March 15 or so, and extend until May 20 or so (i'm so precise, aren't i?). I'm accepting birth clients with due dates anytime starting in early June, BUT until the end of September, i will ONLY be accepting HOME BIRTH CLIENTS. I will need to keep open the option of having my newborn son with me at births, and this is not possible at hospitals. In a home birth setting, I can easily wear him in a back carry, or lay him down to sleep in a room of the house that isn't being occupied by birth activity. don't wait... I do already have births for June, July, and August, and will only be taking on 2 per month until 2016. (golly, it's going to be SO HARD to say no to births).