Queer & Pregnant: Dec '09, Jan & Feb '10 - Page 8

[jjnoho]

congratulations kjm & kale!!! now let the love begin

[megincl]

Keely--- Congrats!!!! Welcome little Kale! Enjoy the wonders of your babymoon.



megin

[KnittingTigers]

Congrats Keely, and welcome baby Kale!

Hope you guys are doing well. I look forward to hearing all about it!

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by indigoscot

i guess that means we're next, lol!!

g

It certainly does!! Can't wait to hear about your little one's arrival!!!

[kjm]

Kale photos http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...7&l=3700bae900

photos of my wonderful waterbirth
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...7&l=4105c1c7be

[MujerMamaMismo]

Keely! So wonderful. Great pics. They really capture the amazingness of it all. Congratulations again.

[lexbeach]

SO MANY congratulations to Keely (and family)! Welcome Kale! I'm so happy for you! The birth looks like it was amazing.

I'd be surprised if you have any difficulties with such an amazing support team, but please don't hesitate to contact me with any nursing questions/concerns.

Sending love and wishes for a peaceful babymoon

Lex

[megincl]

Keely -- your birth looks like it was absolutely amazing. And Kale is amazingly sweet and peaceful! So wonderful (that pic of you in the pool in front of the fire seemed idyllic!)!!!!

Be well and enjoy these days together.

megin

ps -- quick update on us: Katie had her first midwife appt today at about 15.5 weeks. All is going swimmingly. I'm finally finally, with all this PTSD in tow, feeling like this is real. I think we even know what her name will be. Not certain, but pretty sure!

[jjnoho]

Originally Posted by megincl

ps -- quick update on us: Katie had her first midwife appt today at about 15.5 weeks. All is going swimmingly. I'm finally finally, with all this PTSD in tow, feeling like this is real. I think we even know what her name will be. Not certain, but pretty sure!

hopefully, the reassurance that all is going well can help you to enjoy this pregnancy and let go of some of the ptsd!? congrats on the good news!

[carmen358]

Great photos!! Thanks for sharing Kale looks adorable!

[quasar]

Congratulations, Keely!!! Welcome baby Kale!

[kjm]

Here is Kale's Birth story:
Monday Jan 11th, tired of waiting around in bed for this kiddo, I harnessed the energy to attend a protest organized by several local orgs concerning the latest police brutality incident. Due to my giant belly, Kale and I made it on the front page of the news paper and on two nightly news shows. In addition to the protest I attended the coalition meeting later that evening to strategize about our community's response followed by dinner with my DP at our favorite Cajun restaurant. Two hours after eating an amazing meal of blackened tilapia an chicken jambalaya I started getting periodic cramping. Not wanting to get too excited I went to bed.

At 3am I woke up with intense "menstrual like" cramps and light spotting! yahhooo! These cramps continued increasing in intensity and frequency. At 8 am we called our friend Caroline who was eager to NOT go to work and she came right over to wait and see what developed. We also put in a call to my friend and doula (who was in the middle of moving having just closed on her new house the day before). She also dropped everything and headed to our house to We then started timing the contractions with an online contractions calculator (sooo cool). Once they were 10-15 mins apart we called the midwife. She told us she was not going to act as if it were an emergency but she would begin to prepare herself an slowly make her way here, unless we at any point called and told her that we wanted her to hurry up. We then put a call in to DP's mother who had a 4 hour drive ahead of her. Jeez lots to of phone calls when you have a HUGE birth team!

By 12:30 my contractions were 2 to 3 mins apart and my team was inflating and filling my tub. I asked to call the midwife and tell her to move it along now, because I felt like I wanted to be n the tub really soon. An hour later when she arrived she observed 2 contractions and told me I could get in the birth tub! Yahhoo! I was expecting that she would have to check my dialation to make tat determination and I wasn't looking forward to that--but this lady knew her stuff and she knew that I was passed 4 cm without even having to stick her hands in me.

I climbed in the pool and felt soo much relief! I was so sure waterbirth was going to be great for me. I asked DP to call my mother and tell her I loved her and i LOVED the birthing pool (she had purchased it for me)!

DPs mom arrived around 2:30 and I asked that the remaining 2 members of the team be invited to join us around 4/5ish. DP noticed I had already drank 3 out of my 4 large containers of coconut water and put in a request for them to bring "as much coconut water as they could." I was loving that stuff!!

Marianne's 3 year old was dropped off by her dad around this same time. I lived with them for awhile and I am very very close to this child so I was so elated when she arrived. She was very brave and swabbed my forehead with cool clothes and fed me grapes between contractions, covering her ears as my voice boomed through each contraction.

When the rest of the team arrived, unbeknownst to me, my midwife told DP to have them stay in the kitchen for a bit because I was about to transition and more people might throw me off. My midwife suggested that I get out of the pool and walk a little to bring the baby down. Again a genius suggestion based solely on observation of how I was acting. As I paced around she told me to push if that felt right. I walked the loop around my apartment me whole team by my, swaying as I swayed, massaging me through each contraction and wiping up the "snail trail" I left behind. I labored for a short time on all fours on my bed and eventually moved back to my wonderful tub!

I spent the next 2 hours in a variety of altered states, ranging from groaning, to yelling, to growling and snorting, and at one point I was able to utilize some hypnobirthing to restore my strength. My hypnotic state involved asking that all talking stop, keeping my ears under water and repeating several mantras like "Kale knows, Kale knows how to come down" and "I'm opening and relaxing." I was able to ride out 4 full contractions in that state which gave me a HUGE boost of energy.

My DP was in the tub with me towards the end administering acupressure and helping me focus my pushing into my vaginal canal. My midwife kept encouraging me to bring my groans into my belly and yoni. I kept trying but as the pressure would increase my sounds would get more high pitched. It was then that Marianne came down right next to my ear and gave a deep belly hum and I copied. That was my "Oh that is how I push" moment coupled with DP's acupressure and within 2 contractions I felt the burn. I spent the next 20 mins in the tub by myself pushing that baby out. My midwife said once the head was out I exclaimed in disbelief "Can you see that? Can you see anything" and upon her answering "yes" One more push and my lil Kale was floating to the water's surface in front of me!

The cord was super short so they had to bring my a stool so I could sit with her above water. This made for a very comical endeavor in which I had to climb out of the pool, 3 mins after birthing Kale, with only 4 inches of cord to spare. My friend Solobia held Kale between my legs, as all other birth team members supported a limb and somehow we got me out of the tub and shuffled me across the room to my bed to deliver my placenta.

[indigoscot]

wow!!! what a powerful birth story keely!! i love your photos too. amazing!

afu, today is our due date. no sign of anything happening. we have another ob appt on wednesday.

g

[elismum1908]

amazing beautiful powerful birth story! congratulations and welcome baby Kale!

[carmen358]

Thanks for sharing, keely. I'm so happy for you

indigo....ack! any day now!!

[kjm]

indigo-- it is so hard when the EDD passes, even though we know its just estimated, its still very hard. It was around this time for me that I changed my voicemail's outgoing message to "Nope, no baby! Of course I'll call you when I have new news. Thanks for your loving support" and stopped answering my phone. I highly recommend it!

I'm sorry this time marker has now passed, but keep telling yourselves, "today we are closer than we have ever been to meeting this kiddo"

Hugs and Support to you and your DP

[indigoscot]

thanks keely! actually, dp is still very zen. that's partly due to her nature and partly due to watching me suffer on 8hrs of pitocin! we are hoping that she will go naturally, so everyone please send labour vibes our way.

she's at home today - alas i don't get off mlk so i'm at work. i'm sure our wee one will arrive in due time.

g

[KnittingTigers]

Keely, amazing story! You are an inspiration, mama!

We can't wait to come visit and meet the lovely Kale!

[pleasantlyfurious]

Keely - so great! Thank you for sharing! I love birth stories with big birth teams

Who is everyone else planning on inviting to their birth?

I plan to have, my DP, my midwife, my doula, and my mother - but I'm really struggling with my mom being there. I know, know, know, that I would really regret not inviting her - and it would hurt her very deeply (she's a trained doula) - but she drives me BATTY. She knows how to push all my buttons, has a tendency to take over (and eclipse DP), and she has really unpositive language - she's always joking about how hard and awful labor is and never misses an opportunity tease me about my low pain threshold. But, she's my mom. And it's her first grandkid. So I'm inviting her, but I'm not promising I won't throw her out.

In other news, I'm feeling great. I attended a birth last night (as a doula) and it was the first natural birth I've ever attended - amazing.

[indigoscot]

for ours there will be me and possibly dp's eldest sister.

yes, we are still pregnant!! ob appt tomorrow....will update after that.

g