On June 18th I had an unassisted water birth. My husband and daughter ran their fingers through my hair during contractions and my best friend, Jessica, who is also an LC (as I am) took pictures and coached me through.
My husband, daughter, mom, dad, mother-in-law, step father-in-law, my sister, her boyfriend, Jessica (LC), and 2 nurses by the names of Jesse and Sharron were present. The water was soothing and the pool gave me plenty of room for many positions. I could turn and stretch without having to reposition myself (which any PG woman knows can be difficult w/ all the extra weight).
My son only weighed 7.9, which is considerably small compared to my daughter, who weighed 9.1 at birth. He and my daughter were 21 inches when they were born and both born at 42 weeks gestation.
After moaning and moving around in warm water, I felt my son position himself and felt extreme pressure at around 10:01. I said “here he comes”, my mom broke out her video camera and at 10:04am my son was born. While pushing I yelled “It burns! Get him out! Get him out!” and before I could say anything else he was out, unassisted and naturally. I turned, picked him up from the water and brought him to the surface for air on my chest, let him search for my breast, and breastfed for an hour before the cord stopped pulsating and was cut by my husband.
After delivering the placenta I went into the shower to clean up. When I stepped out Jessica helped me dress. My mom stepped into the bathroom and asked if she could talk to me for a minute. Jessica stepped out and my mom told me that my “pawpaw” (the only man in my life growing up, my grandfather) passed away only hours before Micah’s arrival. I was devastated until I talked to my grandma whose words will stay with me forever. She said “Pawpaw was hanging on to go up so that he could meet Micah on his way down”
(My husband gave our son another middle name... my grandpa's middle name, which he was known by)
Birthing and Breastfeeding have been the most beautiful experiences of my life. I hope you find your birth to be as enjoyable and memorable as I did mine. Each of us will have a different plan as every pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding experience is different... and each of us will have a beautiful birth as we assist God in bringing new life into this world.