TheHolisticParent.ORG The Birth of Jace Vincent

The Birth Of Jace Vincent

Jace Vincent was born Sunday night (12/14/08) at 10:21pm a whopping 8lbs
11oz and 20 inches long.

Saturday I felt the sudden urge to clean the entire house, air up the birthing pool,
and check the checklist the midwife gave us just to make sure everything was
ready because I was so ready. Sure enough Sunday at 4am I started having
contractions, and I quietly counted to myself to see how far apart they were. By 5:
30am I practically had to kick my husband out of bed. He was kind of in disbelief
that they really were contractions after weeks of braxton hicks. Sure enough by 6:
30am they were 5 minutes apart and since the baby had been so low during the
last few weeks of pregnancy, the midwife wanted us to call right away.

The midwife, her assistant, and a good friend all came at 7:30am. They started
setting up all the equipment, and my contractions slowed way down which they
said was normal. So, a couple hours later, they went and checked on another
couple and, my contractions started back up again. Our aunt picked up JW, our
two year old (we didn't think he would understand, and I was too distracted with
him there). I got to spend about an hour relaxing with my hubby just the two of
us, and then the midwives came back and checked me. I was dilated 6 cm.

My mom drove from Kansas, a day earlier than she had planned to be with us.
To my surprise, she wanted to stay for the labor (though she was a little freaked
out about the whole thing). By 5pm, everything started getting more intense so
we filled up the pool, and I hopped in. I loved it because it made me feel much
lighter. I started pushing shortly after. After 2 1/2 hours later, we started getting
concerned because I wasn't making any progress. So they decided to do a
vaginal exam to check everything out, which was a scary because he should
have been making his way out by then. It was discouraging to me because I
was working so hard, and nothing was happening. The whole time his heart rate
stayed in a healthy range of 140, but he should have been moving down.

After another hour, he started crowning, and they saw a hand next to his face.
What a relief to know why he was taking his sweet time to come. So after the
midwife moved his arm, there he was swimming through the water to meet me!
A perfect little man! Immediately he started nursing! I think that was the highlight
for me! With JW, I had to wait 3 hours for no good reason to nurse.

I will have to say my husband did an awesome job being a support person and
enjoyed feeling useful. He said seeing me do that has given him a whole new
respect for me. My mom also impressed me! She stuck it out the whole time
even though she didn't agree with everything. She was an awesome coach
telling me when to push and just looking out for me. I couldn't have had a better
team.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It shows all the love and support we had at
our birth. Each hand is a different person. My husband’s, who supported me the
whole time and now has a whole new respect for me. My two midwives, who
were talented enough to guide me through the process. And a good friend, who
had 'magical' hands and helped me through my contractions. And me holding
my beautiful little angel, Jace.

Highlights:
Midwives stayed with us all day.
Hubby felt like he was needed and useful in labor.
I got to decided where I wanted to labor and have the baby.
We never had to leave home.
Baby stayed in sight the whole time.
Enjoyed the alone time with Kevin during early labor would have never happened
anywhere else but home.

Over all it was just a very long hard labor, but could have been a C-section if I
was in a hospital, so glad they were skilled to know how to move his hand and
come out perfectly healthy.

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