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Sprout's Birth, Part 1
assembled @ 9:19 p.m. on 2004-10-18

From the moment I learned that I was pregnant with Sprout, I began to consider a home birth. I�m a passionate believer in the benefits of educated natural childbirth, and Pearl had been born in a birth center, drug-free, so this was the next logical step for me. There were, however, a few snags. We would be moving during my 7th month of pregnancy, and to my father-in-law�s home. While this gave us an actual home, instead of an apartment, to birth in, it was still someone else�s home. Hero talked to his dad, though, and got the ok. Major hurdle leaped. The next obstacle was the fact that Hero would be unemployed by then, and we had no insurance. We would have to pay for the midwife out of pocket (no insurance policy would take me on, since I was already pregnant. That just seems wrong to me). It was very difficult, but with some help from my mom, and some serious penny-pinching, we did it. The help from my mom was a double blessing, because when I first mentioned to her that we were planning a home birth, she freaked out. She talked to her (old-fashioned) gynecologist, who eased her mind by telling her that I could come see him if anything went wrong, and that he would �let me try it� without drugs. Let me? Hah! But that�s a conversation/rant for another day. Long story short, by being educated on my facts and figures, and calmly (and repeatedly) presenting them to my mother, I won her over. To the point that she was present at Sprout�s birth. Taking pictures. Which I will not show here. Probably.

Sprout was estimated to be due exactly 9 months from my birthday, (it had been a good celebration), but October 2nd came and went with only minor Braxton-Hicks contractions. This was no big deal, at first, since Pearl was born a week past her due date, and that�s pretty average with babies. Also, I had had what I think were weak contractions about 4 weeks prior. They scared the bejeezus out of me, but sipping a glass of truly horrible red wine made them go away and the rest of the pregnancy went smoothly, if a little long for my tastes. I finally went into labor on a Friday evening, October 17th, 15 days overdue now. I had considered taking castor oil by that point, and had even procured a couple bottles, but they ended up being completely unnecessary. When the contractions started at 10 minutes apart, I was home alone except for my two-year-old daughter. It's not a good idea to go into labor when you're alone with a two year old, but I managed somehow to call my husband, my mother and my midwife, vacuum and sweep and straighten up the bedroom between contractions, while my husband drove home from his LAN gaming evening with the guys. (He had been staying home with me constantly, and I finally told him to have a night out, since I was obviously going to be pregnant forEVER.) It was difficult to give the midwife directions from Waterford, my brain was fuzzy and I could barely answer simple questions. But I somehow managed to get her there ok. My mom arrived first and distracted Pearl from climbing on me during contractions. Then Hero got home, and a little later Charlotte, our midwife, arrived. I spent the early contractions on my hands and knees because it felt good, much like I did with Pearl's birth. Pearl would get down beside me and groan like I was doing, then she would rub my back and say "Mommy not feeling well." Such a little darling.

The rest will be coming, probably in installments between moments of motherhood, haha. Until then, there's another entry here. A gross one.

--N

then || now