The Llama Family: Bubbles Birth Story

So I never blogged about Bubbles birth.... A little more than a year later I'm finally getting around to it. Yep, I've got children. Yep, I get distracted. Let's see if this post actually gets posted....

It was a very, very early Wednesday morning last August that I woke up and knew my water had broken. No contractions, so I wasn't concerned about waking anybody else up or making phone calls. I slept off and on until a more reasonable hour of 5:30/6:00am and woke up Mr. Llama by singing songs with KB who was an early riser that morning.

I pretty much stayed in bed while contractions started up at 20 mins or so apart. I made the necessary phone calls to my wonderful midwife, who had an hour drive ahead of her, and to a dear friend who willingly came and picked up KB for the day. Mr. Llama had some arrangements to make downstairs at work (we live above a sawmill, so work is just down the stairs) and a few small errands to run. Aunt P., who lives in the connecting apartment next to us, was an angel and come over to clean. I was pretty much in my own world dealing with contractions, but I'm pretty sure she cleaned my kitchen, bathroom and vacuumed my bedroom. I think we also called my mom to let her know we were having a baby that day.

While waiting for my midwife to arrive and Mr. Llama to be done with work, I read my scriptures and tried to eat some yogurt. People think I'm ridiculous for having home births and I'm okay with that. I know that I have a really good support and excellent prenatal care. Any concerns that come up during prenatals are taken care of and choosing to go forward with a home birth is carefully thought out and prayerfully decided upon. Both my midwifes were not hesitant about sending me to the hospital had there been a need or concern that couldn't be met.

My midwife arrived 8:30 or so. Contractions were approx 15-10 mins apart. I walked around, labored on the ball, took a shower, breathed and hung out until about 11am when I was ready to get in the tub. My midwife had brought her water birthing tub which is really just a food-grade, heavy duty horse trough. I was hesitant to use it, but it was wonderful! The heavy sides were perfect for leaning on and grabbing when I needed support. My midwife was able to move around the entire outside of the tub, so I didn't have to come to her when she wanted to listen to baby's heartbeat. It was way better than any bathtub or pool could have been. I HIGHLY recommend them!

Best Birthing Tub Ever!

Water had been put on to boil earlier so when we were ready to fill the tub, we had plenty of hot water. My midwife was skeptical about the need for boiling water especially the amount we were boiling... at least four huge pots... I think there were more boiling at Aunt P's apartment too. But after running out of hot water from the sink within 15 mins and barely filling the tub, she was thankful we had the boiling water already going. Oh the sawmill life.

Once I got in the tub, I didn't want to get out. My midwife had me get out at one point and after dealing with some contractions out of the water, I said let me back in and I'm not moving! Contractions moved along to 2 mins apart and never got closer together. I really felt like I was having a baby for the first time even though this was my second. My sweet KB was so quick and unexpected that I'm still not sure if I really gave birth (of course I really did).

My midwife checked me at one point and asked if I felt the need to push... Apparently I could have pushed my baby out a while ago since her head was right there..... Again, this totally felt like the first time I've ever had a baby. It was a very surprising and straining experience. I was struggling with the pain and did not feel as prepared as I would have liked. I figured out how to push my baby out, but had to wait for the contractions 2 mins apart for each push. My baby was very patient during those 2 mins (three pushes maybe only two)

And then I had a baby in my arms. We brought her up out of the water and on my chest. I had the sweetest little baby with no hair. I looked into her precious eyes and thanked my Heavenly Father for letting me have this sweet girl. I love those moments after birth where I can just soak up my baby's first peaceful breaths. I feel like we are looking into each other's souls and truly connecting, bonding, loving. The afterbirth came quickly and I was able to get dried off and out of the tub. I laid in bed and felt wonderful! I had so much energy! I felt like I could have conquered the world at that moment! It was so completely opposite of KB's birth where I felt exhausted and horrible for days (I also tore really bad with KB because of the force of her arrival so there was that...).

Mama and Baby girl doing great!

We got around to the weighing, measuring, cord cutting and all that jazz eventually. It was nice to just BE for those first hours. We had a sweet moment when we were cutting the cord.... Baby grabbed her cord and just held on for another minute before she let go. It was very sweet. Just to clarify- we don't cut the cord until a couple hours after birth. We put the placenta in a bowl and just leave it be until it stops pulsing. (Baby never goes far from Mama or Papa so there is no hassle about moving the bowl around) It gives the baby that extra time to adjust being out of the womb and gives them that extra blood and nutrients they might need. With us being at such a high elevation (7000+ ft) most babies born in the hospitals up here are sent home with oxygen. My midwife has been delivering babies at this elevation for 20+ years and never needed to give a baby oxygen because she leaves the umbilical cord attached for 2-3 hours after birth.

Now that our baby was born we were feeling major pressure on a name... We still didn't have a name for our little bundle. That didn't stop us from major cuddling and loving and bonding and soaking up all her newborn goodness!