Sebastian's Birth, July 15th, 2006

My first birth, with Julien, was very long and arduous. I was in labor for three days (in part due to Julien's position; he was posterior), but thankfully, I still had a vaginal birth. At the time I didn't realize how close I was to having a cesarean! I had planned for a natural birth, but gave in to medication; after that many hours, it became necessary. My mother died two and a half months before I gave birth to Julien, which also added to the intensity of the experience.

The second time round, after my experience in the hospital with my first birth, I decided I was ready for a different type of birth experience. I was ready for a home birth.

The month before my due date I had lots of strong (but unorganized) contractions. Indications were that I might go in to labor a little early (or at least on time). My good friend Tanya (who is a midwife) came in to town hoping to be there for the birth.

On my due date, July tenth, we thought I was going into labor, but it was a false alarm. I had contractions two minutes apart that lasted about a minute long. I could hardly walk, was shaking etc. Tanya told Richard to call the midwife over right away. When she arrived she took one look at me and set up all the equipment. In between contractions she said "It looks like we will have a baby this afternoon!" And then everything just slowed down until my labor stopped. She checked me and I was only three and a half centimeters dilated, so everyone went home.

Five impatient days later, after both Tanya and my mother-in-law left town, I finally went into real labor. My actual labor for Sebastian's birth was short and intense. On July fifteenth I woke up at 2:10 a.m. with painful contractions about ten minutes apart. I lay in bed for about half an hour and then started to move around the house. I sat next to our kitty, Zeus, for a while and used his purrs to help me breathe through the pain. At 4:00 my vocalizations woke-up Richard. We were a bit nervous it might be a false alarm again (or that my labor would slow down) so we waited until 5:00 call our midwife and Doula, and when we did call we told them they didn't need to come over yet. I also told Richard to fill the pool (which we had set up on the sun porch). My contractions were really strong at this point, and as I was using Richard to help support my body, my water broke. I hadn't experienced that in my first birth, so we were both thrilled! He made another call to our midwife and said "come now!"

By the time everyone arrived, around 6:00, I was laboring in the pool. At 6:30 I said I felt "pushy," so Richard ran to wake up Julien. Once I got in the right position it only took a few pushes to get him out. Usually, after you get the head out the baby slips out easily, but I needed an extra push to get the chest out. We found out why later- his chest was an inch bigger around than his head! Sebastian was born at 6:48 a.m. and weighed 9 lbs, 15 oz., and was 20 3/4 inches long.

Sebastian was healthy and began to nurse easily. We were all thrilled.



We had wanted Julien to be involved in the birth and the timing was perfect. After he saw Sebastian enter the world Julien was absolutely glowing! The midwife's assistant showed Julien all the parts of the placenta and they even did a placenta print! He thought it was great. I was fed fresh strawberries and everyone scrounged around in our kitchen getting coffee and food. Luckily we had a nice fresh loaf of pecan-raisin bread. Then Tracy and her kids came over and took Julien for the day, which was a wonderful. He felt special and we were able to concentrate on Sebastian. What a difference to be rested when you have your newborn!

Submitted by Adrienne