Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Best Birthday Present Ever!

Introducing.....Kai Manu!!

Born on my 31st birthday :D Here is his amazing birth story...

The night before we all had lovely dinner for my birthday, and I was feeling as tired as I had all week (at 41 weeks..thats pretty tired!). All through dinner I was crampy, so a glass of wine was in order to help me sleep later. We came home, put kiddo to bed, and relaxed with a movie for a bit. I went to bet shortly there after and went to sleep quite content! That is until about 3am when I was awoken by rushes I had to concentrate and breath through. I could still sleep in between, so I stayed put and snuggled with my family. At 7am I could no longer deal with them laying down and got up to bounce on my ball. Getting up immediately made the rushes intense, so much I had to start vocalizing through them and timing their regularity. Hubby began cleaning and inflating or pool. All was clean and calm :)



At 8am I called my midwife and she had been at a birth all night! She sent her back up and said she was right behind her, I was so glad she was still coming, and I was to have the same birth team I did with kiddo! My mom and sister were notified as well, Mom was to keep kiddo busy and calm, sister was to film the birth! By 9:30am everyone was there, and we started filling up the pool. I was having some back pressure and Mom rubbed my lower back during each rush, in between I just stared at the pool and wanted in so bad! Hubby suggested music, and I wanted something upbeat.....so he put on a great disco mix from a dear friend :D Thanks Guava!!



At 9:45am the pool was full and I was in.....ahh.....so good! So good....but right away I felt like pushing during a rush, so I did! My midwife did not feel the need to check my progress, she said if I feel the urge, do it! This was immense pressure and hubby was right there for every one, to squeeze his hands tight, he was my rock!





My water had not broken and I thought I had a ways to go still....Kiddo popped is head in once in awhile to check on me, between rushes I was clear headed enough to chat with him....I remember telling him I was ok, and I needed to make these noises to get the baby out!

I could not get comfortable in any position, I tried sitting, all fours, leaning on Hubby, but after all I ended up squatting again....Perfect! My midwife commented that this is exactly how I ended up birthing kiddo! :D So my water still had not broken and I decided to investigate....I reached in, and yup! there was the bag of waters about an inch in, he was coming out with bags intact. I felt a huge rush coming on and roared through it, right in the middle I felt a POP! I thought this was the bag breaking, but nope, I looked down and there was part of the bag bulging out of me....wow...my midwife exclaimed, "Someone get a camera! This is amazing!" haha, I thought so too. At 10:45am another big rush was coming on and I knew this was the last one....it just had to be, it was so intense. So ROAR again, and ROAR once more and his whole body slid out at once! I look down to catch him and I see this little blue being floating inside his bag, utterly amazing, his bag (or Caul) was completely intact! I pulled him up and the caul fell away and he turned pink right away and looked a bit sleepy, then let out a little tiny cry. I realized I could not pull him all the way up so I looked down and his cord was wrapped around his little foot :/ we untangled him and he stopped crying right away. Awww, I could not believe I had another son! He was just perfect :D



We got out of the tub so that we could get the placenta out.....and it was taking quite a while. After a couple of contractions, out it came, along with a TON of blood (after all it was about 4 cups!!!) So everything at that moment became focused on getting me to stop bleeding, breastfeeding, massaging my belly, laying down. I was quite weak after so I asked Hubby to make me up a smoothie with some placenta, yup placenta, in it. I drank that, some juice, and eventually a burrito :). After that I started to feel better, but I knew it was going to be a few weeks before I was feeling completely better (and yes, I was right).

I just kept focusing on my baby, my beautiful baby boy, that I did not have a name for! Didn't matter though, he was delightful!
My midwife weighed him, 7lbs 9oz, and measured him, 19 3/4 in! Great size :D


So there it is, my second and most likely final birth, just the way it should have been. Kai is now 3 weeks old, nursing like a champ, and is still quite sleepy ;) (except at night!) He has steel blue eyes, light brown hair, my complection, and 10 fingers and toes! Like I said....perfect!!





Friday, October 1, 2010

Belly Art!

You know what can make you feel much better at the "I feel like a balloon" stage of pregnancy?

Belly Art! It makes you feel special, and beautiful, like a walking piece of artwork :D

My Hubby helped me create a belly cast that will one day make a welcome addition to our bedroom wall art.... next to This One.

(I was a little shy to post the whole pic....so here is just the belly for now...)



and my very talented little sis came by for an evening of Belly Henna





Belly Henna is a bit of a long process that involves quite some time siting still (very difficult at 9 months preggo), but it is well worth the 2 -3 weeks that it stays with you! Mine lasted long enough to be captured in my "official" maternity photo shoot!!





You can find more from that photo shoot Here!

(Thanks again to my Hubby for being the talented one behind the camera!)