So It hasn't even been 48 hours since my precious little son Aviv was born and already I am feeling great. I am trying to rest but still so excited about his birth and I want to share it. The midwives are coming in about 30 minutes so I will use this time to write it. SO...I was due July 13th, We didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. At first I was all cool about it but as the days crept by I started to get more and more anxious. My first son Myron was born in Japan by c-section due to my water breaking and no real labor, followed by a failed induction and the typical cascade of interventions which ended with a c-section..and I was a planning a home birth for this one and going to the hospital for an induction was something I really didn't feel comfortable with.
I don't think I could have asked for it to be much better. It was long , so I was tired but it wasn't really intense until the end. It started around midnight in a thunder and lightning storm after going to a comedy festival and laughing a lot then coming home to do some nipple stimulation, I was ready to have the baby! The contractions started right away 3 min apart but only about 40 sec long so I couldn't really sleep and it also wasn't active labor. In the morning the midwife came to check, she stayed for an hour and said she would come back in the early afternoon. By the time she came back around 2pm the contractions were pretty intense and I really needed the back massage and to be on my hands and knees or some position with my belly forward. If I was sitting at all it was much more uncomfortable. In between contractions, I talked, ate, drank, sat on my balcony, listened to music.It was so nice to move around and do whatever I wanted and not worry about how long it was taking or anything. The main midwife came at 4pm and I was in the pool at that point. I didn't stay in the pool too much. After awhile I asked them to check my dialation because the labor was long and getting hard and I was afraid I had only dialated to a 2cm or something. When they checked me I was 7cm and the bag of water was like a balloon so they suggested I move to the bed so we could try a new position to help put more pressure to break the water. I lyed on my side and with each contraction they lifted my leg up towards my chest and put pressure on my hip and massaged my back, my back was kind of burning at that point and this time when I was on my side was the only point in the labor when it was really what I would describe as painful. The midwife said later I was in transition then. Then my water broke like an explosion and soaked the whole bed and everyone who was on it! The baby had already pooped so the water was greenish but the midwife said since it was wasn't chunks it was normal. As soon as that happened I got up into a squat and got overwhelmed by this crazy urge to push. I didn't expect it to be so intense and it was a bit scary at first.I held back a bit for the first contraction. The midwife told me to just go to that place where it hurts the most, so I just went with it and after one or two pushes he was out! He was born at 7:45pm. He came out yelling and wiggling all over the place with an apgar of 10/10 but I didn't see anything because I was on my knees with my face buried in the pillows. They passed him under to me and I flipped over and we all saw it was a boy! I was bleeding a bit so they cut the cord quickly and I put him to my breast right away to help contract my uterus. I felt pretty woozy but of course was super happy! I had a few tears so after they got things tidied up and we had some time together they weighed him, he weighed 8lb 2oz and then started stitching me up. The freezing didn't work very well so the stitching was pretty tedious and long. yuck. luckily it hasn't hurt much after though. I am taking lots of arnica, and so far have had no swelling.
So Aviv it is...which means "spring" in Hebrew, the time of change, new life. Another beautiful boy who looks just like his brother did except more hair! He has discovered his favorite activity, breastfeeding of course. I knew the birth would be fine, and luckily my midwives and my family Dr. were all very supportive of my plans to have a homebirth after the c-section last time. It really hardly entered my mind at all during the birth. Well, I am happy to type this out and I hope it will inspire those of you are going for your vbac or hbac or whatever! Go for it! and remember...you can always go to the hospital if your birth at home is not going the way you want but it is much harder to transfer home from the hospital!
I don't think I could have asked for it to be much better. It was long , so I was tired but it wasn't really intense until the end. It started around midnight in a thunder and lightning storm after going to a comedy festival and laughing a lot then coming home to do some nipple stimulation, I was ready to have the baby! The contractions started right away 3 min apart but only about 40 sec long so I couldn't really sleep and it also wasn't active labor. In the morning the midwife came to check, she stayed for an hour and said she would come back in the early afternoon. By the time she came back around 2pm the contractions were pretty intense and I really needed the back massage and to be on my hands and knees or some position with my belly forward. If I was sitting at all it was much more uncomfortable. In between contractions, I talked, ate, drank, sat on my balcony, listened to music.It was so nice to move around and do whatever I wanted and not worry about how long it was taking or anything. The main midwife came at 4pm and I was in the pool at that point. I didn't stay in the pool too much. After awhile I asked them to check my dialation because the labor was long and getting hard and I was afraid I had only dialated to a 2cm or something. When they checked me I was 7cm and the bag of water was like a balloon so they suggested I move to the bed so we could try a new position to help put more pressure to break the water. I lyed on my side and with each contraction they lifted my leg up towards my chest and put pressure on my hip and massaged my back, my back was kind of burning at that point and this time when I was on my side was the only point in the labor when it was really what I would describe as painful. The midwife said later I was in transition then. Then my water broke like an explosion and soaked the whole bed and everyone who was on it! The baby had already pooped so the water was greenish but the midwife said since it was wasn't chunks it was normal. As soon as that happened I got up into a squat and got overwhelmed by this crazy urge to push. I didn't expect it to be so intense and it was a bit scary at first.I held back a bit for the first contraction. The midwife told me to just go to that place where it hurts the most, so I just went with it and after one or two pushes he was out! He was born at 7:45pm. He came out yelling and wiggling all over the place with an apgar of 10/10 but I didn't see anything because I was on my knees with my face buried in the pillows. They passed him under to me and I flipped over and we all saw it was a boy! I was bleeding a bit so they cut the cord quickly and I put him to my breast right away to help contract my uterus. I felt pretty woozy but of course was super happy! I had a few tears so after they got things tidied up and we had some time together they weighed him, he weighed 8lb 2oz and then started stitching me up. The freezing didn't work very well so the stitching was pretty tedious and long. yuck. luckily it hasn't hurt much after though. I am taking lots of arnica, and so far have had no swelling.
So Aviv it is...which means "spring" in Hebrew, the time of change, new life. Another beautiful boy who looks just like his brother did except more hair! He has discovered his favorite activity, breastfeeding of course. I knew the birth would be fine, and luckily my midwives and my family Dr. were all very supportive of my plans to have a homebirth after the c-section last time. It really hardly entered my mind at all during the birth. Well, I am happy to type this out and I hope it will inspire those of you are going for your vbac or hbac or whatever! Go for it! and remember...you can always go to the hospital if your birth at home is not going the way you want but it is much harder to transfer home from the hospital!
Congratulations!! 
