Saturday, March 13, 2010

And then... the Emergence




Then Sunday afternoon, I starting having nice regular contractions, very comfortable and pleasant, about 7 minutes apart. So we went up to Claudia the midwife's place in Wailua, got all set up and had a really beautiful afternoon and evening calmly walking the grounds, feeding the horses, sniffing the orange blossoms and admiring the mountain apples. The sun went down, Kate and KJ took Rosie Jo home, and Matt and I walked under the stars and palm trees.






Things were so mellow that at about 8:30pm I fell asleep, and had a great sound sleep until about 3 in the morning. I woke up dreaming I was pushing a heavy shopping cart up a dirt embankment-- and then I was in real labor almost immediately. I got in the shower-- my midwife could tell that we were picking up the pace now, and came to check on me. I started shaking-- "That's normal for transition," she said.

Transition? Already?

To mellow things down a bit we got into the hot tub outside, in the moonlight, in a little private garden of yellow plumeria bushes. (Birth in the time of Plumeria! said Grandma Betty later). In between contractions I got to watch the clouds and the mountain and the moon-- it was almost too beautiful to stand. But pretty soon I got that feeling-- "something's gotta change." And then we were cooking.

Kate and KJ came back at 4am with a very sleepy little Rosie Jo. Claudia broke my bag of waters, I got in the shower. Transition was hard-- harder this time than I had remembered. I was trying to run away from it. Finally Claudia got right in my face and told me I had to wrap my brain around pushing and just do it.

So I did-- three pushes in the shower and --amazingly-- baby was born! At 4:52 am. Everybody got to be there with me-- I couldn't have imagined a better birth guide and companion than my love Matt. I couldn't believe that there was actually a baby at the end of all that work... And she is so gorgeous.


7 comments:

queenann said...

Wonderful! Gosh, don't you wish you'd been in a hospital!?

I'm SO happy for you all. Glad she's here now.

jenica said...

what a beautiful story! birthing in the plumeria under the moon and sky. amazing. xoxoxoxoxo

Laura said...

Congratulations! She is absolutely beautiful.

Susan said...

Great story...laboring under the stars...I love it. Congratulations. That last picture of you, Matt and Maile is beautiful. I love her name too.

Kourtney said...

Oh Beaks! I got teary reading your story. How wonderful. Just exactly how it should be. So happy for you guys. You are amazing. And now you have two beautiful little girls.

Ben Peters said...

No comment can do justice. I won't try. Just beautiful. That's all. Congratulations, you four!

elisadp said...

Tears for me, too. Thanks for sharing your beautiful story and perfect baby girl.