Please join us in welcoming Ruby Skye into this world. She was born at home on Saturday, May 14th at 2:33pm after 7 hours of labor, weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches long. We had been anxiously anticipating her arrival each night, making sure everything was in place and we were prepped before going to bed. I love that the world always reminds you that you're not in charge of things, therefore commencing my labor in the morning instead of my aforementioned prepped-and-ready-to-go evening. I had my first contraction and water breaking at ~7:30am at about 20 minutes apart. We started getting the birthtub setup and everything in place, but quickly realized the difficulty we were having with dear little Luna running around bored. My brother-in-law rescued Luna of boredome and allowed us to continue our preparations. By 11:30am I was ~5 minutes apart and the midwives arrived. I had been laboring sitting on the birth ball with fears of getting up to move as it always brought a cascade of contractions. I was so thankful for the birthtub this time as well. We had one last time but our hot water heater was insufficient to fill it and I wasn't able to get in until I had already been pushing. I crawled in sometime after noon as the contractions got stronger and closer together and didn't get back out until after she was born.
From then on it was a blur. I wasn't checked for progress at anytime durng pregnancy or labor, which was a blessing as there were no expectations of how long things would take or when I should push...we just relied on nature and trusting in myself to know what my body needed to do. The midwives were great in that way as well, anytime I asked how or when I should do something, they just told me to push/breath/move however I needed and whenever I needed. It was really just me with Gig there to lean on and grip all the blood out of his legs with my hands during contractions. It was intense (read: painful), but I did it. I never got to feel Luna being birthed because of being transferred to the hospital and having an epidural. I can say it was the most painful thing I've ever done, but amazing that the pain is over and all your hardwork paid off instantly. Ruby is healthy and sleeping ALOT and being held non-stop. Luna is trying to be helpful by covering up Ruby (including her head), and getting her pillows and books. Needless to say, we can't leave either of them out of our sight!
From then on it was a blur. I wasn't checked for progress at anytime durng pregnancy or labor, which was a blessing as there were no expectations of how long things would take or when I should push...we just relied on nature and trusting in myself to know what my body needed to do. The midwives were great in that way as well, anytime I asked how or when I should do something, they just told me to push/breath/move however I needed and whenever I needed. It was really just me with Gig there to lean on and grip all the blood out of his legs with my hands during contractions. It was intense (read: painful), but I did it. I never got to feel Luna being birthed because of being transferred to the hospital and having an epidural. I can say it was the most painful thing I've ever done, but amazing that the pain is over and all your hardwork paid off instantly. Ruby is healthy and sleeping ALOT and being held non-stop. Luna is trying to be helpful by covering up Ruby (including her head), and getting her pillows and books. Needless to say, we can't leave either of them out of our sight!
When I look back at Luna's labor, it was such a different experience. I remember being told I was fully dilated and so I started to push. I now know I never really felt that physical urge to push which is what exhausted me so much last time and resulted in going to the hospital. I was very nauseaous last labor as well, I don't know how many times we wrote "vomited" on the labor record. We were prepared with a bucket this time, and luckily never had to use it! I was thankful for the overall short labor, considering my second stage labor with Luna was ~7 hours in itself. We finally got our homebirth though, and were thankful for the opportunity and the support of our midwives. We are all healthy, happy and at home.
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