Welcome back!

Last Thursday afternoon, I got the news that Amy was beginning labor, so I reminded my dear friend Linda about her cat-sitting offer, and dashed out the door.  The suitcase had been in my car for two weeks prior just in case.

Amy and Thad wanted to have an at-home labor and birth.  She had pre-natal physician care but just didn’t share with him that she planned to give birth at home.  He, typical of this community, wanted to induce her labor two weeks before the baby was ready and she wisely side-stepped that one.  Yea, Amy!

On Thursday, Amy and I watched unassistedbirth.com videos together.  It was most enlightening for me.  They’d previously given me a CD to watch (The Business of Being Born) and it was my intro to the at home birth concept.  On Friday, her contractions were still varying and she was still able to speak with me.  On Saturday, they got to 7 minutes apart and she got a bit more quiet.  On Sunday, they were coming 3 minutes apart and her girlfriends came by to assist. They are all lovely women and I can see the link between the four of them.  By Sunday night, Amy was devotedly focused on her processing and not speaking to us.

The birthing pool and all supplies were upstairs in their bedroom, so on Sunday evening, the girls and I stayed down in the living room, eating, chatting and directing our supporting thoughts to Amy and Thad upstairs.  We fell asleep around 11 in our chairs and at 3 am, I woke bolt upright.  I went to the stairs to listen and when I came down, the firls were awake too.  They had to work the following morning, so they left around 3:00.  I began to direct very powerful thoughts to Amy to help support her as she went through this miraculous process.

I fell asleep at 3:30 and was awakened by the cry of a baby!  What a joyful sound!  I ran up the stairs to see Thad throwing KittyBoy out of the bedroom and calling me to come in. And there was the biggest miracle of all.  Waiting for the placenta to come through, Amy was holding the baby and whispering to him “Hi.  I’m your mommy.”  I get all tearful just writing about it, the beauty was so enormous.  And then Thad held him and told him he was his dad.  I feel so blessed being a part of this enormous and miraculous occasion.

Amy was the essence of practicality, getting the baby acclimated.  Thad got a bit euphoric.  He and I had gone downstairs to let Amy rest with the baby and she called to Thad for assistance several times.  He literally flew up those stairs.  The funniest part to me was when he and I were in the living room and the baby was crying.  He turned to me with this beatific smile on his face and said “I don’t even mind that sound.”  Too funny!  It will be interesting to see how long he continues to feel that way about his baby crying.

The baby’s name is Hieronymous.  It’s a unique and strong name.  He’s a unique and strong little boy.  He has a full mop of brown hair.  His skin is absolutely flawless and so rosy.  He opened one eye and looked at Thad when he was coming out and he cried before his whole body emerged. He is alert and alive and so loved by us all.

After four days of labor, after the baby was in her arms and Amy was resting on the bed, she said to me “I’m ready to do it again.”  Now that, folks, is truly amazing.

Love,

Pat

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 6:02 am and is filed under Juicy Miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.