August Newsletter Birth Annoucements

Dear Mom,

I am delighted to announce the following moms from prenatal yoga - Nina, Arielle, Keisha, Darcy, Kelsey, and Vera - have given birth! (If I forgot or missed your birth, my apologies. Please let me know)!

May, June, & July Birth Announcements & Stories:

Nina gave birth to Eve on June 27, 'eve' of the full moon and eclipse. I had the honor of attending her warrior birth. She showed stamina, patience, and calm determination throughout the labor and birth.

Arielle wrote this email to me the day after she gave birth to Kieran on July 23!!

"I just wanted to let you know that I will not be attending yoga tomorrow because I had my baby boy Kieran yesterday afternoon. I delivered him by VBAC and it was a great experience. I had an epidural, but I found myself using the breathing techniques and focal points we used in the class. They definitely helped! It was like running a marathon and the yoga class really helped! Such a different experience than with Isaiah and it makes me want another one down the line. Anyways, I will be in contact with you once things settle down a bit for Mommy and Me post partum classes. Okay thanks so much"! -Arielle

Darcy gave birth to Eli on July 23 and is full of happiness! Please see her attached birth announcement and story in the email I sent out announcing the August newsletter!

Keisha gave birth to Sanai on June 17. Another fast birth for this strong mama of 3 now! She says it has been the busiest month of their lives, but it has been the greatest! Here's her announcement and story!

Sanai Naomi Dominique
born June 17, 2010
8lbs 5oz
21 inches

By my 38th week, I was 6 centimeters dilated but still no labor had started. Of course I was anxious and a little worried but figured things would happen any day now. At my 39th week appointment my OBGYN and I revisited the option to induce labor. She and I were both concerned about going into labor at home with only 4 centimeters to go and a history of fast labor (less than 3 hours) with my two prior children. I agreed and we scheduled an induction for 6:30 am on Thursday, June 17th. Well, little baby Sanai decided to come on that day but on her own time. My water broke at 1:45am on that day and we rushed to the hospital. Once I got there, I alerted the staff that this labor would likely be fast. Well it was... after getting a labor and delivery room bed at 2:05am, Sanai was born just 30 minutes later at 2:35am. I pushed about 3 times and here she was. It was an amazing non-medicated natural birth and we have been enjoying each other ever since.
Thanks,
Keisha

Kelsey gave birth to Lux on June 5 at 8:47am. Weight 6.15oz, Length 19.5 inches. Read her warrior birth story!

On June 5th at 5:30 I awoke and couldn’t fall back asleep. I stayed in bed just staring at the wall for about 10 minutes wondering if today would be the day Josh and I would meet our son. Just then, my waters broke with a gush in one fell swoop. I got up quickly and woke Josh up. He was obviously shaken up and still half asleep, we had totally forgotten sterile technique and of course had to read the handout a good three times before we could even understand what we needed to do. After clean and having talked to MariMikal I attempted to fall back asleep but immediately things started to pick up. Time was already becoming a foreign concept as I told MariMikal the next hour contractions were ten minutes apart and variable in length. We then realized, once timed, they were three minutes apart and thirty seconds in length. This meant that early labor had started. MariMikal’s two apprentices rushed to the house and she followed an hour after.
From then on, things seemed great and although the pain was the most intense pain I’ve ever felt, it did come in waves and my body’s endorphins started to kick in. I found myself shaking uncontrollably often from releases of oxytocin trying to sooth the sensations that began in my uterus but then started into my low back. I had met every laboring woman’s worst enemy, “back labor”. Argh!!!! I seemed to be progressing slowly but fairly normal for a first birth, a half centimeter every hour until I hit seven centimeters. I tried the tub but the water didn’t sooth me, only made me urgently need to stand which then made everything that much stronger. I used the shower, the birth stool, side laying and roving around aimlessly literally as wild animals do. Josh soothed me with heat and cool but it was tough to know exactly what I needed as it would change momentarily. At 7 centimeters, I hit transition and, which would become a seven-hour wall that would only take me to nine centimeters. Transition is the hardest part of labor as the pain it at its highest intensity. Despite people laughing at alternative breathing techniques, panting and blowing was the only thing that kept me riding the wave. I felt discouraged and didn’t know if I could make it through to the pushing. I was so emotionally and physically challenged but knew that I still had the strength to keep on. MariMikal decided we needed to attempt at pushing to see if we could further Lux on down the runway. He had been doing great the whole labor, with his heart tones beautifully consistent and strong. We forced pushing on as she manipulated my cervix attempting to open it just a tad more but the back part of the cervix was still slightly blocking his way out. This was most likely due to my constant walking and upright positioning during labor, which is the way you get the baby down and out. So it was at this point a contradiction to everything you read or know about keeping labor moving quickly or a laugh in the face as that’s the hardest way to work through a contraction and I insisted on making every contraction as hard and strong as possible to bring Lux into our world. The other thing was that my contractions were slowing as oxytocin receptors in my uterus were shutting down. I was fatigued to a point of which we were all getting concerned. My contractions were at nine minutes apart when we tried some herbs to make them more intense, hands and knees and uterine massage but nothing seemed to work. I was stuck and the talk needed to be had. MariMikal explained that we needed some help. We had all really wanted Lux to be born at home, so we shed our tears and packed up for the hospital. We arrived at St. David’s and made it up to a room where everyone was incredibly kind. MariMikal suggested I needed pitocin and an epidural. I needed to sleep for an hour and then push this baby out. By this point, I had worked as hard as two first time home births and I hadn’t even moved into the last phase. I slept, feeling incredibly drugged and strange but my back pain subsided and I was able to sink into the bed. Lux’s heart tones died down on several occasions but he was such a fighter he brought then back to normal without rushing me into a cecesarian. They kept me oxygenated and once I woke with contractions, again I followed my breath to my baby and gave him his second wind. I rode the contractions again for two and half hours as I knew I would have to work with every inch of my soul, push myself further than ever imaginable and I had to keep calm and fearless. I pushed and pushed making progress but then was brought back to the night’s events and lost it - completely needing to cry, let go and get mad feeling how unfair everything had been. I had worked so hard, done everything right and followed all the rules (very Libran of me;-) MariMikal encouraged me to let my emotions out and we all cried together - Josh, MariMikal and myself. It was my way to surrender and let God as I had done all I could. Dr. Love, a great name I must mention then arrived to see how we were doing and in that instant a contraction came on. I began to push, we could clearly see the top of his head and as the Doctor began getting ready I pushed the baby into the nurses hand, we needed to hold him steady as I opened beautifully. On the next push, in one moment the baby was out. He was pink and beautiful and immediately placed on my bosom. He was the most amazing person I had ever seen and I was overwhelmed by joy and love. His presence made everything so worth it and knew it was our karmic path to be just where we were. Josh got to cut the cord and you could feel the energy in the room, pure light just like his name Lux. He is a gift of the universe and I’ve never felt so blessed to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.

- Kelsey and Josh

Vera birthed Otto on May 17, 2010 at 6:56pm. 8lbs 5 oz, 21.5" long.

Labor was basically fine! I was amazed at how fast the first half went - we labored at home from what I consider to be my first "real" contraction [1am] until the doctor's office opened [8am]. During that time, I dozed off and on and took a bath while Jeremiah caught a couple more hours of sleep, and we timed contractions every few hours I guess, using contractionmaster.com. My contractions were typically under a minute but were closer than five minutes together for several hours before we decided to call the doctor. I was just 1.5cm at that point, so they had us walk around the park and checked my cervix again later, at around 10am I was already at 3cm and they told us we could go to the hospital if we felt like it. Once we got the the hospital we parked the car in the garage and took the stairs down, then walked to admissions on the second floor - no wheelchairs, no drama!

Once we checked in at the hospital we were just so excited and in really good spirits, labor was intense but completely manageable and I felt completely normal in between contractions, chatting and being my usual smartass self. Contractions didn't seem too bad - completely manageable so long as I let them just wash over me instead of trying to fight or control them in any way. I was pretty much able to move around and labor actively at the hospital, I loved rocking on the birth ball in the shower, and changing positions often. I hated having to be monitored for 20 minutes out of every hour, because sitting still made it so much more difficult; it was SO valuable for me to be able to move around - I have no idea how "those epidural people" can stand being tied to the bed for sooo long! I guess I'm just a control freak?

Jeremiah wasn't really able to play an active role in labor until maybe the halfway point - I REALLY couldn't tolerate being touched during contractions until I hit transition. But once I hit maybe 5 or 6cm, I was having these really weird pains in my back - and suddenly the ONLY relief was for Jeremiah to gently rest his hands on the painful areas, and it was completely instant relief. There's no way I could have made it without him after that point. One other thing I was doing that really helped was vocalizing with an "ahhhh" sound during contractions, it really helped to remind me to stay relaxed and focused.

Things started to get more intense by maybe 4 or 5pm, I think I was "hitting the wall" since I hadn't really eaten since 7 the night before, and was only operating on 2 hours of sleep + resting between contractions as much as possible throughout labor. I was maybe 6cm at that point, and decided to take some narcotics in my IV to take the edge off a little bit and get some rest before things got too unbearable. It wasn't in my birth plan, but I definitely have no regrets - without resting, I feel like the latter part of delivery would have been just awful. After the drugs wore off [maybe an hour?], the doctor checked me again and I was still at around 6 or 7cm, but my membranes were bulging. After my water broke, things got really intense and I went to 8cm pretty quickly. At that point, my body was taking over and trying to start pushing no matter how hard I tried to just breathe through it..

My body forced a couple early pushes at 8cm, and my cervix started swelling - it took INTENSE concentration to keep myself from trying to push. The nurse had disappeared and we had to call her back in the room [I TOLD her I'd dilate quickly after my water broke but she didn't BELIEVE me.. tsk tsk] - I was really struggling to hold the baby in. Pretty much as soon as the doctor and equipment and everything got all set up, and I was able to push - what a relief! The pushing couldn't have lasted more than maybe 20 or 30 minutes, the doctor was working really hard to massage the perineum and stretch my swollen cervix to prevent as much trauma as possible, but I still wound up with a second degree tear - which sucks I guess, but really isn't a big deal a week and a half later.

Otto Lynn was born at 6:56pm, and weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, and measured 21.5" long. After I delivered, I overheard my L&D nurse whispering to the doctor that she really didn't take me seriously at first re: active labor / natural delivery, and that from looking at me she didn't think there was ANY way that I was going to be able to go through with my birth plan [narcotics excepted] - she's always seeing people come in with intentions towards a natural labor who go screaming for an epidural at 3cm - and that I sure showed her!

Everybody at the hospital was really great and helpful - I was able to get Otto to nurse off both sides before we were moved to the recovery room. The nurses were super sweet and helpful, and the food was actually pretty decent! Annoyingly, they REQUIRED me to be wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair, even though I walked myself in there two days prior in active labor! But that's whatever, I guess. Now that I'm home, things have been pretty smooth - unfortunately, Jeremiah was only able to stay with us for the two days at the hospital and one day at home before he had to go back to work, but assorted relatives have been stopping in almost every day, and Otto's been a true gentleman - it really hasn't been too rough at all, WAY easier than being at work, for sure!