Looking again

Awhile back I posted about an apartment that I was hoping to move into. Yeah, that didn't happen. I was pretty disappointed at the time, but now most of the rental properties have lowered their prices, so it has turned out to be a bit of a blessing! Today, I went out and looked at a couple of places. One was kind of run down and in an "iffy" neighborhood, so I ruled that one out, but the other was really nice. At the time that I posted about the other place, this one was over $100 more per month, which put it out of our price range. Anyway, I'm feeling really good about it. There's one other place that I want to look at before we make a commitment, but I'm secretly hoping this is the place! Here are a few pics from the rental agency's site.

The Master Bathroom:


The Kitchen as viewed from the dinning area:



We'd be in the lower right if we decide on this place.

Homebirth

I was sitting in the local WIC office today waiting to add Isaac to the program. A worker came by to make sure I had what I needed to add him, and asked if I had his hospital bracelet for identification. I explained that he had been born at home, but I had his birth record with his name, birthday and my midwife's signature. This satisfied their requirements, and the worker checked with the other women in the waiting room and then left the area. Shortly afterward, one mother with her own newborn asked me about my homebirth. "Were you afraid that something would go wrong?" she asked. I stopped for a moment to think if I had had any such fears during my labor. "No" was the only answer I could give. So many people say to me, "I could never have a homebirth." They site reasons such as wanting pain medication, fears of complications, or having to clean up the mess afterwards. Some people have very good reasons for birthing in hospitals, and I rarely try to convince anyone of how to give birth unless they ask for my opinion. Those who are at a higher risk for complications should be where they can get appropriate care-usually at a hospital under the care of an obstetrician.

When people ask me if I have fears of things going wrong, ironically, the first thing I picture is being in a hospital. I picture an IV in my arm and moniters on my belly. I picture nurses and doctors coming and going and making decisions that will change the outcome of my child's birth. As long as I am able to stay home, I have nothing to be afraid of. It's when all those interventions that most people consider a normal part of giving birth come into play that I start feeling afraid.

I don't think all interventions are bad. C-sections can be very good, if they save a baby and/or mother from a truly dangerous situation. There are times when a mother's labor should be induced. Episiotomies are something I personally find more difficult to justify, but I supose there are cases where they may be necesary. But for me, needing those things is a sign that my body isn't functioning the way it should.

I have to wonder why it is that many mothers who have their babies in hospitals are afraid, while those I know who have had homebirths consider birth to be normal. Could it be that there is more to fear in a hospital? I read and listen to typical hospital birth stories, and if that was my only experience with birth, I'd be afraid too.

Oh, and as for the mess of birth being an issue, I didn't clean up anything after Isaac's birth. The midwife started a load of laundry and Aaron later switched it to the dryer. Everything else was taken care of.

The two-week check up!

Isaac had an appointment with the pediatritian today. He got weighed, measured, listened to and looked at! The jaundice we had been watching is gone and he is back over his birth weight! His current measurments are 8lbs 12oz and 22 inches long. He's around the 50th percentile for his weight and about 90 for his height! We will see how long that keeps up! With such short parents, I suspect he will grow out of it, but we will see! His head is about 14.5inches, which is also right around the 50th percentile compared to other babies his age. Over all, he is a happy and healthy little boy!

Two Weeks!

Wow, I can't believe it's already been two weeks since Isaac was born! Here are a few pictures. He is doing well. We've pretty much figured each other out as far as breastfeeding goes, and he sleeps great-but sometimes he does it in the middle of the day and not at night! So we are working on that. He has a two week appointment on Monday, so I'll update again with his current weight, etc next week!

Isaac Is Here!

Isaac getting ready to be weighed by the midwife.

New baby Issac!

Hello! I know I haven't posted much lately, and I'm sorry this has taken me a few days to announce! We had our baby! He was a couple weeks early, which is the reverse of what I'm used to! He was born at home Saturday night. Here's his birth story. It's somewhat detailed, but I wanted to share the whole story, so hopefully that doesn't bother anyone too much!

Isaac's Story

Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty normal-huge and pregnant! Around 10:30am, I was started noticing some contractions that were harder and lasting longer than most of the braxton hicks I'd been having. I didn't want to get too anxious about it, so I counted them, but didn't really time them. They were really inconsistant. One hour I had 4, the next couple hours I had 2, then between 3:30 and 4:30, I didn't have any at all. I fell asleep and was woke up by a good strong contraction at about 4:30. From then on, they didn't stop. They still weren't really regular, but were getting stronger, and I was really feeling it in my lower back which made me wonder if he was turned wrong. Around 5:00pm I called my midwife. I was finally feeling like this could be it! She wasn't at home and it took me a while to get a hold of her. I finally talked to her at about 5:30. I was still able to talk through the contractions, so I didn't think it could be that close, but at the same time, I was definitly feeling things happening with most of them. She said to call back in half an hour. I went on with what I had been doing-cleaning the kitchen counters! Ha, ha! But pretty soon couldn't handle being on my feet anymore, so I laid down in bed. In the meantime, I was trying to get my mom to understand the urgency of the situation. She was supposed to be picking up the kids, but hadn't left her house which is a 20 minute drive. I talked to my midwife around 6 and she said she'd get ready and head on over. Aaron was scrambling to get the kids ready to go and Leonora was kind of freaking out. She wanted mommy to help her, but I was not moving! Around the time my mom arrived, Leonora had climbed up in bed and snuggled up next to me. Thankfully, she loves going to Grandma's so once we had our little snuggle, she was willing to go. The kids left with Grandma around 6:15 and I immediately told Aaron to go fill the tub. Because of the back pain, I was really struggling to relax through the contractions, and knew the water would help with that. As soon as the tub was filled I got in and we waited for my midwife. By this time, the contractions were coming a lot faster. We'd kind of stopped timing them when Aaron was getting the kids ready, so I'm not sure how close, but I'd guess at least every 5 minutes. Just before 7:00, I started feeling like I needed to push, so I told Aaron to call the midwife. Thankfully, she was in the parking lot when we called, and came right in. She checked me and said that I was nearly dialated. There was just one side of the cervix still there. She also said that the membranes were bulging, but the baby's head was still not engaged. She also gave me permission to push, and said that once my water broke, he would come down. I stayed in the tub a little longer, but I had no concept of how long at that point. I started feeling like I needed to change possitions to help things along. I was really getting anxious for my water to break so that we could get on with things! I slowly got out of the tub and then started asking my midwife about breaking my water. I told her that if it was safe, I wanted it done. I was feeling really ready. She said it would be safe, so I headed to the bed to have my water broken. I was having contractions about every third step, so it was slow going, but we made it to the bed. I had a couple more contractions while they were getting things ready, then as my midwife was about to do it, I felt like a water balloon had exploded down there! I think I said something about how I'd never had it happen quite like that before! So, I was glad to have that part done and was getting down to the business of getting the baby out! I turned to my side and had Aaron hold my upper leg so that I didn't have to. I still had a lip of cervix on one side, so my midwife manually took care of that and then it seemed like almost immediately she told me I could reach down and feel his head. I was in for a surprise when I felt nearly half his head already out! We had to kind of slow things down for a minute. He was sunny-side up, which I had assumed because of the back pain, and he also had one hand next to his face and the cord wrapped loosely around his neck. My midwife made sure his hand and cord were taken care of, and told me when to push. After that, I really didn't have to push much though. I felt like everything was kind of happening on its own! I'm not sure how many pushes, but from the time my water broke, until he was born was less than 5 minutes! That was a record for me! When they handed him up to me, I was just so overwhelmed, I was just sobbing! I was just so happy to have him in my arms! He cried right away, but didn't have very good color at first, so his 1 minute apgars were a little low, but he scored 9 on the 5 minute. He has some nice dark hair and dark eyes and the world's cutest dimple in his left cheek! Since then, he has been getting really good at all those things that babies do, eating, sleeping, and pooping! Monday he had a visit with the doctor. He's slightly jaundice, so they did a blood draw to check on that and re-checked it yesterday. His levels went up so he's being checked again today. I'm hoping that things will be better. If not, he may need to spend some time under lights in the hospital. I'm feeling really good for the most part. I had no tearing or swelling so things are healing very quickly! Other than the back pain, this was basically a dream labor! It went so quickly and smoothly, I really couldn't have asked for better!

Isaac Nathan Born 8:49pm on Saturday, January 3rd. 8lbs 7oz, 19.25 inches long.