Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Oliver's birth


 So today I learned of the birth of a child. A woman I don't  know that well had her baby and all I could think was how special it was just to know she had delivered her baby. It struck me how although this will most likely never happen again for me, just how special it was to experience it the two times it did. I thought about it and would love to share my son's birth stories with any who would like to hear them. I am starting with Oliver because I found his birth to be a very empowering experience where as Sawyers felt like something that happened to me. His is a story for another day. I'll start with Oliver.

Oliver's tale start much like everything else in his life, as a consequence of things before him.  I was very unhappy with the way things went down with the birth of his brother, and I blamed the medical profession. Before I had either of my boys I had seen 4 home births and none had effected me like the hospital birth of my first son. You can argue that I had not delivered any of the other 4 births I had witnessed so of course it affected me differently but all those mothers had continued to deliver there subsequent children at home. One hospital birth was enough for me, so when I found out I was pregnant with Oliver I searched for a midwife.

At our first appointment one thing they said struck me "we are interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing us." I was a little offended, but they went on, "if we aren't a good match together you won't have a good delivery, you will be holding back instead of opening up, and that isn't what you want when you deliver." Ok so they had a point. But I feel we were a very good match.

Friday July 25th, 2008 I was running around as usual, late to a coffee date with my friends, then we were going to go watch a kids concert in the park. When I got a call from my cousin Mariana, Mariana knows things about me before I know things about me. She was the one who told me I was pregnant with Oliver, She is also the one who told me I was in labor. On this Friday morning she called to ask me how I felt, I said "fine, why?" "oh nothing" she says "I just had a feeling that today was the day. I was sure when I called that you were going to tell me something was happening! Oh well I must just be thinking about you, have a great day, we can talk later!" So we hung up. I was due on Aug 8th, so I wasn't expecting much yet, but loved that she thought it was today! So I went about my day and sure enough contractions started a few hours later. Nothing serious at first but contractions all day! When I went to bed that night I said to Jeremy I think we are having a baby tonight! My contractions were getting stronger and stronger and closer together. At around 4am I couldn't sleep through them and decided to call the midwives and my sisters who were 6hrs away but hoping to catch the live show! :)

My last breakfast as a mom of one! Trying to chat while having contractions!
A few hours before Oliver was born!
At 3pm on July 26th Oliver Mateo made his grand entrance. He was born in a birthing tub at home surrounded by a lot of love. Both my sisters made the birth, my cousins Rachel, two of my nieces, Jeremy and Sawyer and of course the 2 midwives. Of course it wasn't with out drama, 'cause what kind of birth would it be if there was no drama. After his head had come out the urge to push completely went away. Apparently his shoulder was stuck, after what felt like an eternity (around 3 mins) the midwives helped unwedge him and my BIG beautiful boy made his grand entrance. He was born weighing 9 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long. It was an amazing way to enter this world. For any who may have wondered about home births here are a few pics we snapped along the way! Enjoy.

trying his hardest to comfort me
Catching the live show!
one of my favs because although I look half dead my sister is uber excited!

enjoying the sun during the day, waiting for his arrival
Sawyer meeting his brother
My favorite picture! The two of us seeing each other's faces after months of waiting!
Pure Love

4 comments:

  1. Oh, you made me cry! I love that your sisters and nieces were there, too. Seriously - what an amazing experience for all of you :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you it was a very special day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Liz, this is Cameron's girlfriend- we were just looking through your blog. I love hearing about your home birth. This is the kind of story that needs to be told, so thank you for sharing it!
    Corinna

    ReplyDelete
  4. Corinna,
    Thank you so much for your kind words, I really hope that people will become less afraid of home births. It was a little intimidating putting it all out there but birth is beautiful and I think it should be celebrated so... there it is! :) I've been enjoying your travel journal, sounds amazing!
    -Liz

    ReplyDelete