Naomi Photo Shoot

Sorry it's been so long. We didn't have a charged camera when we went to the birthing center. :( But, the student nurse-midwife took pix for us while we were there, and she'll be sending me a CD with all the pix. So more to come.

Here's what Mom & I took today. I just love this little girl! She's really here, and she's really a girl!

I tried to do some nice ones on my bed, but I decided she deserves a real professional photo shoot, so those will be happening soon. :)
Well, for those who haven't heard it, I think I'll post the birth story. It was amazing! So many crazy things happened.
My contractions started around 2:30 am on the 24th, the day after my estimated due date. Crazy in itself, since I was expecting to be a week late. Travis was gone with the boy scouts on a scouting trip, but I knew he had his cell phone! I expected to be laboring for a while before anything major happened, so I hesitated calling him to come home. However, the contractions were consistently 4-7 min apart and intense. I didn't feel I could continue doing that all day, and needed to refocus. So I called Travis and he got home around 4 am, he said the Lord must have been zapping his cell phone, it was almost dead. I tried to soften the intensity of the contractions in the bath tub and enjoyed listening to Travis talk. He let me know, though he'd been so busy preparing his boat, nothing mattered more to him than me, and he would help me get through this. I'll admit, I was upset that he hadn't spent much time "practicing" & "preparing" for this labor with me. But he knew what to do, and did it well. I couldn't have done it without him.
Then we decided to try and sleep a little, both being rather tired. Not to mention Travis' 6 hours of sleep in the last 96 hours. I was able to rest and ease into the contractions with steady, concentrated breath. Though they were getting very strong. I sat up in bed for a while, and liked that position. I kept imagining my breath filling up like a balloon in my stomach, and then floating away as I exhaled. That visualization seemed to work for me. I did eventually find that I could not mentally ignore the stronger contractions. But overall, hypnobirth practice was very helpful for me. Tustin came into our bedroom around this time, and decided he wanted to sleep at the foot of our bed- how funny he wouldn't be seeing us again until Naomi would be in my arms. Around 7am I woke Travis up, I felt we better get ready to go to the birthing center. At one point the pain in my back was so strong, I had to puke from the pain. I know, gross. I had Travis massaging my back, and that helped immensley. We called the midwifrey, and let them know we were on our way.
So, Travis was running around getting some food & clothes ready to bring with us. Mom was put on back massage duty, I was really needing it at this point. :) I then felt I needed to use the restroom. Towards the end I kept feeling I needed to pee, but couldn't get anything out. I think it was because Naomi's head was in the way! I sat on the toilet and my water broke. I thought, "uh oh, my water doesn't usually break until I'm ready to push." I announce the discovey & Travis hurried faster. He began getting things into the van. "No, not the van." I said. "My mom needs it to come visit with the boys," it has all the car seats. I love it when I'm in labor, Travis doesn't argue with me about anything. So in the truck we went! While I waited for Travis to clean out the front seat of his truck, I had a contraction leaning against the bumper. I was feeling the urge to push, and was a bit concerned & began saying "Oh crap, oh crap!!" Thinking, please don't let me lose anything outside on this gravel driveway! Travis heard my concern & asked what was wrong, but I thought I better not cause him to worry, so I didnt' answer. We were finally on our way & Travis quickly sped over the bumpy dirt road. I tried to hold myself up to avoid the shock of the extremely pot-holey road. I know the Lord was cushioning me at this point, I didn't feel a thing.
The birthing center isn't too far away, we left the house at 8am, and drove only a few minutes. We were welcomed by Annika & Caitlynn, the student nurse-midwives, to assist Andrea, the midwife. However, Andrea hadn't arrived yet. I walked straight to the the bathroom and sat on the toilet. Caitlynn began filling the tub, as she knew I wanted a water birth. Travis walked in after me and informed me that we had left all our things in the van! He was suggestingto me that he drive back home to get it, and be back in 5 min. I thought, maybe, but No!! I needed him here. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but felt he better not leave, that we needed to wait out the next contraction to assess how far I was. So the next contraction began and I felt the unmistakable urge to push!! Caitlynn & Annika heard me grunting & ran in to check on me. Travis asked, "Are you pushing?" I thought of answering, but he quickly figured it out.
Still fully clothed, except for pants, and still sitting on the toilet, I felt the pressure from Naomi's head coming down and out. I couldn't believe this was really happening, that I was already to this point! Naomi's birth was emminent. In just a few moments she would be in my arms. The student nurse-midwives had me stand up after I felt Naomi's head slide quickly out. Next, the body. In just 2 pushes and one contraction, Naomi was born. 8:16 am, beautiful & perfect, into my arms. I was overjoyed, so happy, and gave a laugh/cry, not sure which, as I looked down at her in my arms. She was finally here! And, yes, I checked to make she was really a girl, and she is! I held her close as we walked to the bed. I delivered the placenta there and then the midwife arrived. Andrea was sad she missed it, but Annika & Caitlynn had it under control, they did an amazing job.
7 lb 8oz 21.4 inches
April 24, 2010
The End, or is it?