Introducing Gianna.

Holy Cow. The last posts were Iris turning three, and Clark five.  They are four and six now, and well, we had another little baby. Her name is Gianna Magdalene. I'm writing this on the eve of her 7th week. She was just baptized this past weekend.  She's had a very full life so far.  Before she was born, I was pregnant, and gave birth,  Clark started and finished kindergarten, Iris changed from a toddler to a girl before our eyes.  I will write about all of this later.  While I hope that I might be able to fill in the past two years, I think the best I can do is attempt to fill you in on today.  

So, starting again.. Again.. Here I go.  

Introducing Gianna magdalene, born June 22, 2015 at 3am, at Birthcare and women's health in Alexandria, va.  8lbs 12.5 oz, 21 inches (or so) and just an awesome baby. 

Iris's birth

On Wednesday night, 1/5/11. I began having some contractions. No wait. I had contractions almost every evening since I was about 36 weeks. Mostly they were delicate and tiny, rhythmic and subtle. I noticed them because I have chronic Braxton-Hicks starting around 20 weeks (in both pregnancies) and knew these were different. I didn't really pay attention, because they typically went away when I fell asleep and in the morning they were gone.

On Wednesday night, I was 41 weeks, pretty much done with the pregnancy and ready to have the baby. In the middle of the night, the regular evening contractions didn't go away, but didn't really keep me up. I dreamt about labor, and sometimes woke up because of them. They were all about 40 seconds long though, and not that powerful, 10 minutes apart. They were somewhat there the next morning, 1/6/2011, but Tom wanted to go to work for some meetings. I resolved to take it easy, keep hydrated, and fuel up so that they could do what they wanted. At about 10am, I decided to take a walk to see if they would get stronger or go away. The walk turned them into an hour long Braxton-Hicks contraction. I wasn't surprised, but somewhat disappointed. Clark (my 22 month old toddler) and I went out to eat for lunch – Indian Food. Lots of good vegetables, iron, carbohydrates, and spices. The contractions came back in the restaurant, strong enough for me to notice, close my eyes and focus on them. Still 40 seconds/10 min apart. The waitress smiled at me, knowing what was happening. Clark ate two bowls of rice and two bowls of cantaloupe.

I called the midwife then to see if I should do anything to accelerate this labor, or make it stop. We decided a bath, beer and nap would be good. I laid down for my nap, and fell asleep, but the contractions pulled me out of sleep. They were still 10 min/40 sec, but I felt them deep within me. After we woke up from nap time, we watched Dora the Explorer. Through one contraction, I put my head down and breathed deeply as my pelvis filled with the strength of it – Clark was frustrated at me because Dora was still loading. I realized at that point that I would never have the baby if I had to take care of Clark. The contractions were strong, but short, and I knew things were holding me back.

I called my mom in Louisiana who was flying in the next day, I told her to give me permission to have the baby even if she wasn't there, she did. It was 3:30. I called Tom at work and told him to come home. He was home in 30 minutes. I wanted to just drop Clark off and go to the birth center. But first we had dinner, remembering the 26 hours we spent laboring exhaustedly with Clark. We went and had Vietnamese Noodle Soup – Pho containing fluids, electrolytes, carbs and irony beef. In the restaurant, my contractions got stronger, 40-60 seconds, 5-8 minutes apart. I knew that we were doing the right thing. A lady in the restaurant caught on to what was going on with us and she said that she wished she had eaten before going to the hospital too. After dinner, we called the midwife and our birth assistant/doula. We said that we were coming to the birth center. We were ready. It was 6:30pm.

As we drove to Alexandria, Va (normally ~ 40 minutes, but more during rush hour) we were pleased about the lack of traffic. My contractions spaced out again, lessened in intensity, and shortened. We dropped Clark off at our friend's house about a mile from the birth center. I hung out in their house for about 30 minutes, feeling lame because everything appeared to be stopping.

We continued on to the birth center, and when I got there, I told everyone “sorry if my labor stopped” but they said it was “ok. We plan on being here all night” It was 7:30.

They checked me at that time and were surprised to see I was 5cm dilated already. My midwife said all we needed to do was get the baby to turn (she was still OP) and she would descend and that would take care of it. We got into the big jacuzzi tub and focused on getting the baby to turn and descend.

Apparently all I needed to do was relax, get my birth team in place, make sure Clark was taken care of, and enter into this labor to give it the attention it needed. It took Tom and I a little while to figure out how to position ourselves in the tub and establish a ritual for each contraction. After we did, the contractions took off like crazy. Each one was power, power, powerful down to my pelvis. I tried to think about the baby moving down and could feel the descent from the top of my belly. On my hands and knees in the water, I leaned into Tom's lap or chest or tummy for each contraction and he blew on my back to help cool me off.

It was quite a fun time between contractions. In between each contraction we repositioned, laughed a little bit and did nipple stimulation to increase the intensity of the contractions (this releases oxytocin, a natural form of pitocin used in hospitals). My midwife said that she didn't want to see me so happy, that I needed to get snappy so we would know the baby was coming. However, my doula said I was pretty serious during the contractions and that is what really mattered. We had an extra doula there (a trainee) and she said we were a really fun laboring couple.

At one point I checked myself and felt the baby's head encased in the bag of waters at my third knuckle. I knew it was going to happen soon. Within an hour and a half of entering the tub, I was no longer doing my low throated moaning, I was roaring. I told Tom I was in transition and wished I had been counting the contractions (it is usually about 20) so I knew how long it would be. It was a silly thought as I could feel the baby moving closer and closer to the exit. The head was at my second knuckle. I felt the contractions ripping apart my sacrum from the rest of the pelvis. Tom pressed on my sacrum for some counter pressure. All of a sudden I wasn't roaring, I was pushing. There was no thought. I was the first woman giving birth. I didn't need any knowledge or coaching – except to breath because it was so overwhelming and amazing.

No. Maybe I did need coaching, My midwife ran in when she heard the sound of me pushing. She said “drain the tub” I wasn't planning on having a water birth and didn't want one because with Clark I had had a hemorrhage and knew I might need some special attention after this birth. She also kept telling me to breath and push slowly, gently. The power of my body was so incredible that I was just yielding to it – doing what it told me. But I also tried to do what she told me. I slowly climbed out of the tub and told them I wasn't going to the other room. I stood at the side of the tub gripping the edge as our baby's head emerged from my body. It was so overwhelming, There was a pause between head and body emerging. I think after all of that sensation and how quickly it was going, I just needed to rest and breathe and pause. I knelt on the floor so I could catch the body. The body was born.

I held the baby, our baby, to me. The labor was over. Tom knelt at my side and we looked between the legs and saw that we had a girl, a daughter. I was amazed at how covered in vernix she was. She looked like she could have stayed in there for another month! It was 10:08pm.

We slowly walked back to the room where we “should have” given birth (although it is totally fine that we did it in the bathroom). Our daughter began nursing. The placenta came shortly after.. We named her Iris Margaret Greenwell.

I couldn't stop talking about how amazing the birth was, how powerful, how visceral, how incredible. Within 40 minutes I was telling Tom that we were gonna have to do it again. Tom told his mom that, and she said, "most women like to wait at least a month"

The midwife and team took my vitals and Iris' vitals a few times, I ate, had a shower, and we took a photo. Then we left the birth center at about 1am and headed home to sleep. The adrenaline of the night took Tom by surprise and he was more restless than a newborn baby! I was ready to sleep after missing my regular nap and staying up so late, but Tom and I realized that it was already 1/7/2011, our 5 year wedding anniversary. Tom presented me with a beautiful necklace to commemorate everything that had happened. We laughed, we prayed, I sang, we fawned affection. The birth was amazing, our daughter is amazing, and we did amazing. We couldn't have done it without each other.

The next day around lunchtime, our friend dropped Clark off. He came upstairs, climbed into bed and gave his baby a hug, a kiss and said, “Hat! Hat!” he was excited about his baby finally being an outside baby. So are we.

Due Date

Hi.

We had a very lovely Christmas this year. A few days before it, my dad decided to drive up from Louisiana and hang out with us. It has been a really nice and relaxing visit.

We had dinner Christmas Eve and Christmas with the Farmer family (Mike, Kathryn, and Owen - plus Mike's parents and brother and his wife). Clark had fun playing with Owen and the adults had fun being adults.

Tom and I went to mass on Christmas morning and the next day (a Sunday) ALL BY OURSELVES while dad watched Clark. This may have been the very best gift of Clark's whole life. It was wonderful to sit and hold Tom's hand and relax and listen and pray and NOT have to think about keeping Clark quiet via toys/snacks/"look at the music" bla bla bla. It was wonderful.

Clark really enjoyed opening presents this year and caught onto removing the wrapping paper pretty quickly. It was precious to watch!

Many of the days dad has been here have been low lying days as I was sick for the first part of this trip, Clark was sick for the middle and now Tom is sick for the end. Are we suprised that dad started feeling ill yesterday morning? No. We are not.

Today is the expected due date of little baby Joy, and again, we are not suprised that s/he is not here yet. Dad was hoping he could be around for the birth - but I think he's realized by now it might not happen for another week or so. We have had some fun discussions about birth and medicine in this country and I got him to watch The Business of Being Born to prep him for the birth and why we've made the decisions we have about the childbirth process.

He accompanied me to our midwife appointment yesterday. We listened to the heartbeat, had a nice belly measurement (39 cm) and tried not to cough on her stuff. We found out that the baby is in an OP position, meaning back labor and a sunny-side up delivery. I'm hoping Joy turns, because that kind of labor is going to suck a lot. It will help me be a better childbirth teacher and doula one day, but still, I'd rather skip it if I can. Besides this information, it was a nice visit. Next Wednesday I'm looking forward to having a Non-Stress Test where you lay there and let the External Fetal Monitor measure baby movements. I'm also going to have an ultrasound called an AFI where they measure your amniotic fluid. We are determined NOT to find out the sex of the baby at this ultrasound, as we have waited this long, we'd rather experienc the "surpise" that other people say is "so great!" and we'll let everyone know what we think is better.

It would obviously be ideal to have the baby BEFORE this appointment, but we'll see if that happens. I've got a baby pool going over on my facebook page. It is in the notes section if you are looking for it.

It sounds like dad is leaving tomorrow morning, and I hope he gets home before he hits the worst day of the cold. It would be better to spend that day at home and in bed than driving 17 hours back to Louisiana.

Over all it has been a nice couple of weeks and we are looking forward to 1. being healthy and 2. having our baby soon. We are looking forward to 3. Mom's visit on January 7th and 5. our 5th wedding anniversary on that same day.

As you can see we have lots to look forward to and are happy about life right now. I feel so calm and relaxed, especially compared to how I felt on Clark's due date (read: STRESSSSSSSSSSSS) It has been a much nicer journey and I don't plan on being stressed at least until next week.

Wishing everyone the best, many prayers and lots of happiness in the new year.

Love, Veronica

what we did in October and the start of Nov.

We realize we've pretty much dropped the ball on updating this lately, and we are sorry. Also, something is screwy with the picture loader on blogspot so we aren't able to post photos right now. I did include a video though. It's at the bottom if you don't feel like reading all of this update.

I was sick for the last part of Sept and early part of October, then I started feeling better and started taking care of things I had let slip during that time, as well as giving Tom a break. Tom had been running the house, taking care of Clark and letting me rest whenever he wasn't at work working. Thank God for him. =)

We had a very nice visit with Tom's parents at the end of October. They are in Israel right now, and we were their stopover point before leaving the US.

We went up to Baltimore one day and saw Ft. McHenry - the fort that got attacked and from which attach Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. It was a very patriotic and moving trip. I think we were all surpised at how American it made us feel, especially after we've done so many other USA things living near DC. This is one place to go to if you ever think that America might suck, cause its definitely makes you love your country.

We hung out at the house quite a bit and relaxed, which is always the best type of vacation in my opinion! For Halloween night, Clark was a little dragon. He LOVED trick-or-treating. He loves outside, he loves taking walks, he loves knocking on doors. All of the things combined with little old ladies and our sweet neighbors bending over and offering Clark a bowl full of pretty colored thingies resulted in a JOYOUS CLARK. He grabbed candy by the handsful and went back for more - to the utter delight of our neighbors. He really liked seeing the other kids dressed up and could have stayed up all night watching them. He also could have stayed up all night from all of the sugar he ate - as we did let him taste the delicious treasures he brought home for mommy and daddy to eat. The kid loves candy, as Tom's mom said, "He's no dummy."

In other news we just found out our insurance won't cover a homebirth, so we may have our baby at the birthcenter in Alexandria, VA where Andrea GG had Sophia almost 3 years ago! We considered switching providers and having Joy in the nearby hospital, but I really don't like the idea of it. The last thing we Greenwells need is a toddler, a newborn, a tired new mommy, and a Tom with C-diff, or MRSA or something like that. He's just too delicate to be exposed to hyper-antibiotic-resistant hosptial germs. We can switch our insurance through open enrollment @ Tom's work, but it will only go into effect on January 1, 2011. The new insurance should cover a home birth, so we are praying that Joy will come late (as Clark did) and join us in 2011.

The other big thing that's going on here is the Bradley Method is undergoing sort of a coup and another organization may begin certifying teachers to teach the same philosophy of birth under a different name. The new organization seems to be very responsive to the suggestions of new teachers and willing to do things that the older organization won't in order to reach as many mothers and families as possible with the positive message of natural childbirth. I may switch to the new organization, but I'm waiting to see what will happen as things with the new organization are made more clear in the coming weeks.

For those of you who love the Bradley Method, just know that there may be two certifying organizations teaching the same/similar thing, but organized and run differently. If anything it seems the new organization will have better looking materials. They are also saying they are going to improve the quality of scientific evidence referenced in classes and with the method in order to get more of the medical community on board with the safety that is found in reducing unneccessary interventions. So it looks like good things are coming out of the new group, but again, I'm going to wait and see.

I won't be teaching again until at least March and am looking forward to getting a (or more) doula client next summer/fall. I also have an offer to teach Childbirth at a local hospital. It would be a "hospital compliance" course but they would also permit me to teach a natural childbirth class (not a full Bradley course). It would be good because they would recruit students and I would show up and teach and get paid - nice and easy.

What else? Tom went to a retreat this Saturday morning and he said he had a wonderful time. I'll be working on a youth group retreat in two weekends and am spending some evenings going to meetings to prep for it. I'm the creative coordinator or something like that. I'm in charge of music, decorations and coming up with ideas for this "reverse" video we are making (look up "reverse" videos on youtube).

Tom is going to San Diego next week and I'm going to be alllllll allllloooooonnnnnneee for 6 whole days. Please pray for me that I'm a good mommy, cause Tom has always come home at the end of the day to give me a break. Maybe I should hire a babysitter one afternoon just to have some private time! eek!

Finally, Clark continues to be the light of our life and he is super awesome. Tom is a super awesome dad, and made a fun ride for him with the laundry basket. Here is a video.

Sillies

I've got two very silly sillies in my house. Clark is quite the mimicker lately. Here Tom and Clark do some pelvic rocks to get ready for to have their babies.

Inspired by a recent visit to the Houston Averills, Tom has taken to making hats for Clark out of food boxes. This fuzzy picture shows Clark as "Pizza Box Head". Clark played with the box for a week, repeatedly bring it to me to put on his head.

Another gift fromt the Houston Averills was a carseat toy - a Lion, wearing board shorts who makes music. Clark LOVES the music and started dancing to it. We couldn't help but get it on video for all eternity. This video is cute.


But this video is cuter. You only need to watch the first half - it gets boring after tom says, "put it on the blog" I was just hoping that Clark would come back and dance again instead of throwing the lion around the room.

By the time I shot this, Clark was more interested in the camera - but it does highlight his Hellen Keller speech, and the lion. and how he is annoyed that I won't give him the camera. and how he fell and busted his lip earlier, and how Tom doesn't want me to film him. oh well!

latest happenings

A few cool things have happened in the last couple of weeks, so I'll tell you about them.
1. I wrote an email to a community list serve asking if anyone would stand behind me regarding an issue I had with our local parks. The issues were: at one park, parents had to go down a very steep hill to get to the park, and then back up again to get out. It was slippery in the morning when the ground was dewey, and very difficult to do if you had a double stroller, and kids, and baggage. It was hard enough with one kid! The other issue was that the other local park had no sidewalk access to it, so a kid of walking age would have to walk in the street.
I just emailed the group to see if anyone else cared about this, before approaching the city about it. However, someone from the group forwarded my email to the city. I had city personnel emailing and calling me that afternoon. The very next day, I met with some managers from recreation and parks department. They heard my concerns, saw the ludicrious hill that I was talking about, and agreed that something needed to be done. So right now, they are doing some measurements, and looking into pre-fabricated ramps to see if they can't get some respite for poor caregivers out there who want to bring their kids to the park! Its very exciting. I hope they call it the "Veronica Greenwell cares about her community Ramp!" After they get info on cost of the ramp, then they'll present to the mayor and get a timeline for completion! It is very, very exciting!!! =)

2. This weekend I spent 10 whole hours away from Clark on both Saturday and Sunday. This was our longest separation to date. The reason was to attend a training by the organization DONA, Doulas of North America. I was trained to become a doula! A Doula is a labor support person who helps a mom and her partner through labor. I was really taking it to get more info to help the parents who take my Bradley classes, but now I want to attend births. I may have to wait a year or so, until baby Joy is big enough to not have me at her/his beck and call. But its something I am really looking forward to! I may offer my services to the parents in my current class, they will be giving birth in October.

3. Tom has been working on our garden and its beautiful. =)

4. Clark is learning a new word about every other day. This weekend, while I was gone, Tom taught him to say "spoon" and now when asked what a rooster says, he replies, "cock-a" so its an excellent start! He can follow some directions such as, "go get your shoes" and he'll bring a pair of his shoes to put on. He can "go get mommy's shoes" and he'll bring me two shoes, sometimes mine, sometimes Toms, but usually a pair. We are working on "get mommy's blue shoes" to get him to bring my sneekers. He knows that if he brings shoes, he might get to go outside. Its one way he tells us he wants to go out there. He also knows that we put bug lotion on him before going outside, so now he will bring shoes and point at the lotion indicating OUTSIDE!!!
He has been putting himself to sleep by singing and talking in his crib, its pretty cute. We have been giving him lots of balloons lately - they just happen to have them wherever we are shopping. Balloons are his favorite thing right now. So one day he played with the balloon all day long. When I put him to bed that night, I heard him exclaiming, "babooo, baboooo" (balloon, balloon). It was so cute.
He's simply a wonderful kid, he's got tons of energy which we burn off on walks, in parks, and mostly outside. I'm kind of dreading keeping him indoors this winter - but with a newborn, it will just have to be his new reality. I'm sure we'll make some outings, but not nearly as many as we have been. We'll have to limit museum visits and metro rides to reduce risk of RSV to Joy.

I'm enjoying this pregnancy and not worrying, whining or freaking out as I did last time. It is really nice. I'm looking forward to the third trimester and giving birth at one point. We just got mom's plane ticket out for January 7th and look forward to seeing her then!

The end!

Birth Story

Tomorrow I am going to be at a conference to get certified to teach the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth. (!yay!) I will be gone for 3 nights and 4 days and stay in a hotel. Clark is coming with me. Tom will be joining us on Friday night. Because I won't be posting anything during that time, I wanted to share our Birth Story. Here you go in all of its glory and detail. I hope you enjoy it. I did.
Love, V



When I was 12 and got my first period, I was really excited because it meant that one day, I could make a baby. I knew that I had to find the right man to be my husband and make a baby with, but one day, it would happen.

Well, I found that man, got married in January 2006 and was ready. He wasn't. So we waited and waited until June 2008, when we finally made our baby.

I was pregnant! The hormones in my body were making two germ cells meet to make a single cell divide into a ball into a little grain of rice grow into a bean into a baby. They were also making me totally insane.

Well, we were thrilled! Since the baby was a grain of rice during our first ultrasound, AND since we are pretty sure we conceived the baby after a crawfish boil, AND it was due on Mardi Gras day, AND I'm from Louisiana we started calling the baby, "Gumbo".

I wasn't morning sick, I didn't have trouble with my balance, I didn't have many of the problems I hear other preggos talking about, but I did have crazy hormones which always made me feel on the edge of crazy or falling off the crazy cliff. They settled down into the 4th month, but already, being pregnant sucked. I had always wanted to be pregnant, ever since I could get pregnant and it was disappointing to me that I hated it and it was ruining my life.

I would come home from work, get a bowl of ice cream, sit in the tub and cry. I longed for the day I could give my husband the woman he married, not the emotional nutjob who ate lots of dairy and took too many baths. BUT I knew I had to stick it out and one day I would have my very own baby.

I had seen my sister in law give birth with Birth Care in February 2008 (Regina as midwife and Lori as her birth assistant). She had bad back labor and did not sound happy the entire time. I decided I would be knocked unconscious whenever I got around to having a baby. Suddenly I'm pregnant and I actually need to make that decision. My sister in law gave me a book, “Baby Catcher” which planted seeds of a home birth. I cried 8 times while watching, “The Business of Being Born” and then knew I was terrified, but thought I could do it. I could have a natural childbirth. We signed up for Bradley classes. I have a degree in public health and we did tons of research. We found that having a midwife assisted birth was safer than a hospital birth, so our decision was made: a Midwife Assisted Home Birth!

I had crazy braxton hicks contractions starting around Thanksgiving. I would contract for 4 hours straight. I thought, hey its just practice and maybe the baby will come early. We practiced relaxation rarely, but knew it was important. I relaxed with music, in the tub and held my husband while pretending to go through labor. I practiced squatting. As often as possible, I didn't do Kegels, pelvic rocks and whatever else we were supposed to do as much as I should have. Midwife Alice told me not to eat so much protein (the recommended 80-100 grams daily) if I didn't want to gain 100 lbs. I did eat less protien, but still gained 50 pounds. It was probably the long baths with Ben and Jerry...

We were ready for our Bradley prepared, Birth Care midwife watched, Birth Partner associates assisted home birth at 36 weeks, as instructed. Nothing happened.....

38 weeks, contractions while hiking~!!!!!!!!!! nothing.... I made a 12 hour long labor playlist on my ipod.... nothing.... nothing..... Chinese food..... nothing.....

40 weeks and due, .... nothing....we pray for the perfect team to arrive when I do go into labor.... nothing... I up the spicy food intake.... nothing... nothing....

41 weeks and ultrasound... plenty of room for the baby to frolick in. great..... nothing... I'm tired of trying to get the baby to come.... nothing..... I play Dance Dance Revolution..... nothing.....

2 days before my Cervidil induction at the birth center, I took castor oil... contractions commenced..... 12 hours of labor on a birth ball in the living room while hubby slept... they died down... nothing but a clean colon to show for my efforts and a night of missed sleep...

We give up. We will be induced Sunday. I beg my husband to stay home from work. We nap all day. We go to the movies Friday night. Not hungry due to the castor oil pain, but wanting some salt, I eat only popcorn for dinner. While watching "Watchmen" the contractions start again. Hubby thinks the movie is good, I don't really remember because I wasn't really paying attention...

Walking back to the car, I need to lean on Tom for support. The contractions really start up at about 8-9:30 pm that night. We take a walk around the block and I lean on him. We decided we would try to sleep and see if this was the real thing. We sleep in the downstairs bedroom so I don't have to walk the stairs if it picks up. At midnight we called the Birth Center for the midwife on duty. Regina called back and told us to let her know if the contractions became closer and more regular. They did. We tried to sleep, Tom rubbed my back, but kept falling asleep. At 3am, I demanded, “Stop falling asleep, I need you!” we called Regina again and she came at about 4 am Saturday morning. I started my 12 hour labor playlist in the ihome.

I was standing in the kitchen when she got there, moaning through contractions. She encouraged me to sit, but all of my Bradley training said, “Stand!” “Walk!!” so I kept trying to have the baby. I really hated being pregnant and I wanted it to be over!!! If walking made the baby come faster, then I was going to walk. Contractions continued and I labored hard with Tom's support. Audrey was called by Regina at about 6:30 am and she came over within 2 hours. Audrey had just finished her shift at the hospital and I felt bad for having another birth to attend. We labored and labored. Walking helped. I could moan and wiggle through the contractions. Audrey tried to help me sit or kneel or do anything but stand too, but I kept standing and walking. I tried the tub, but kept falling asleep between contractions and knew it was slowing the labor down. So I did more walking. I drank Dr. Pepper and Orange Soda (with caffeine).. I wasn't hungry. Maybe I was hungry.... I was scared of throwing up and didn't want to poo in labor. I kept telling myself I'd eat later. I dreamed of Mexican food and not being pregnant.

I have to say, I was disappointed when I heard my 12 hour playlist restart. I couldn't believe it had already been 12 hours. I felt bad for Regina and Audrey because they had been there awhile already. I was anxious to get un-pregnant!!!

My contractions kept coming and they weren't as horrible as I thought they would be. I didn't have back labor, so the time between contractions was peaceful and gave me a chance to rest. I took the contractions one at a time. A wave washed over me. I held Tom's hand, or if standing, hung around his neck while he gently rubbed my neck and told me I was doing great. The worst contractions happened when he took a break one time. When he came back I told him never to leave me again. He asked, “I didn't think I wouldn't get a break,” and I told him, “I don't get a break” so he stayed by my side.

I was almost 2 weeks late, and my mother was scheduled to arrive that day. She said she was afraid to see me give birth, she didn't want to see me in pain or hurt and is generally an excitably nervous person, so I was trying to have the baby before she came. Well, she was dropped off by my sister in law at the regularly scheduled time. Suddenly it wasn't just Tom and me and Regina and Audrey anymore, my sister in law and mother were there too! When my mom arrived, Tom showed her how to help and then she took over for about an hour. He took a nap and got recharged.

Things slowed down and slackened, but picked back up again. By about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, we knew the baby was going to come that day, but we didn't know when. We walked around our backyard, for 20 strong contractions. I pinned Tom to the fence, the side of the house, a tree. He said encouraging things, he sang to me. I stopped moaning through contractions, it was making my throat dry. I breathed out slowly. I did nothing that required extra energy. I was in the zone. I started feeling CRAZY powerful. Each contraction was awesome in its power. I was shaking with adrenaline. I felt like I could throw a car down the street. I was the Incredible Hulk and going through an amazing transformation. It was transition. I was fully dilated and it was time.

We went back into the house, it was 24 hours since my labor began, I had stood up or walked the entire time. I hadn't eaten, I had taken Castor Oil the day before and all I had for dinner was popcorn. I was tired. Instead of squatting as planned, I lay on my back and rested between contractions. Audrey coached me for every push. Once she went to the rest room or something and wasn't there. I didn't push as well, so when she came back I asked her to coach me for every push. Regina put the warm compress on my perineum and told me where to focus the pushing. My mother put a cool wash cloth on my forehead and gave me sips of drink from the spoon. Tom held my hand and the mirror and supported me. My sister in law held my foot and said encouraging things. The perfect team was assembled just as we prayed for.

After a million pushes, each one stronger than the last, each one harder than the one before it, each one mighty, powerful and squeaking my baby's head forward in the birth canal, finally, my pregnancy ended!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son was born.

He cried right away and was placed on my chest. In the pictures I look very happy. I was happy, but mostly that it was all over and I wasn't pregnant anymore and I didn't have to be in labor anymore.

I had another push and the placenta was out. Tom cut the cord and Clark was free of my body, he was on his own. Then I remember they were cleaning my outer thigh and telling me I was getting a shot of pitocin. I remember thinking, “Oh, I must have a hemorrhage for them to do that.” They cleaned my other leg and I got a shot of something else. They said, “Get the baby on the breast.” So my sister in law, an expert breastfeeder herself, attached my baby to my breast and somebody put the breast pump on the other side. The midwife massaged my uterus, saying it was going to hurt, but I didn't feel anything.

I was very tired and suddenly it was just me, Regina and Audrey in the room. Everyone else had cleared out, gone to get the baby dressed or something. I asked if I could go to sleep now and they told me, “No, we need to make sure you won't pass out first.” So I waited. I was really tired. I was also really happy to think that my husband was spending so much precious time with our new baby. I stayed awake for Regina and Audrey. I was happy that I wasn't pregnant anymore and the labor was over. I was shocked to hear that it was 9:35 when I had the baby! It was still daylight when I was outside feeling like the Incredible Hulk!

After they were assured I wouldn't pass out and I was all stitched up, they weighed the baby. My son was 9lbs, 6oz and came out with a compound presentation. The little bugger came out with his hand near his face, which probably made it take longer than it should have otherwise.

I asked my sister in law if she could get us some Mexican food. She called her husband who brought us some Taco Bell (it was 11pm or later...) I ate a few tacos and finally got to sleep. They would bring the baby to me to feed him and I would sleep some more. I was so happy to know that he was being taken care of by my mom and Tom.

In English, we say “give birth”. Birth is a sanskrit word meaning, “coming to life” but the word birth really doesn't describe much otherwise. In Spanish, they say, “da la luz” which directly translates to English. means to “give the light”. Which describes EVERYTHING. Giving birth is amazing, bringing forth life and holding it in your arms is amazing.

After Clark was born, we were overwhelmed with happiness. The depths of love that we know now are growing and growing. It is so amazing to have a child. I can't believe that we didn't know this type of love before now. So many people would say, "your life will never be the same". They said it ominously, but we now know our lives will never be the same – because of Love, and it is such a good thing to know.