A big summer storm was in the air the whole weekend before Elijah was born. His due date was somewhere between June 26th and June 31st. My first son was born a little early, so I was anticipating the same. On Friday the 18th, I felt ready. We cleaned the whole house, top to bottom, and Aaron and I went out for a date in the evening. We saw Harry Potter. I had been having contractions that felt like a delightful wave of power/energy each time I took a walk for the last several weeks, but during the movie, for the first time, I was having regular Braxton-hicks contractions while sitting down. I was so excited I kept telling Aaron about them during the movie. Afterwards, we shared a wonderful dessert at a restaurant. It was very romantic. I really thought and hoped I would go into labor that night. I was a little disappointed in the morning.
On Saturday afternoon when I saw my midwives, the storms were already rolling in. Jude said a lot of women go into labor during storms (something about barometric pressure). That night we had dinner with Sarah and Gerardo and we took a walk in the rain. Again, I had lots of contractions while walking; they were getting a little stronger than Braxton-hicks. On the way back, we saw the most vivid double rainbow. Again, I hoped the birth would be that night, but I woke up on Sunday, Father’s Day morning, still pregnant.
That night we went to a free concert of Cuban music called Music Under the Stars at Chamizal park with some friends. As we listened to music around a picnic blanket, I told Aaron about the surprising tingling sensation I kept having in my breasts. It felt something like a let-down (which I hadn’t felt in many months, though David had recently weaned). I’ve never heard of this as a signal of impending labor, but in hindsight I think it must have been.
That whole week I had been getting powerful (but not painful) contractions on our evening walks, and this night I walked round and round the park trying to bring them on. I was thoroughly enjoying them; each one felt like an awesome wave of power pulsing through me. I knew I was opening by this point and just wondered how much longer it would be. With my first son, I’d had several weeks of very mild occasional prelabor, and I had ended up 3 cm dilated days before he was born. Some people say prelabor doesn’t do anything, but in my experience its an important part of labor. I attribute my relatively fast, easy births to this wonderful, gradual opening.
On the way back to the car, I said to Aaron, “I hope I don’t sleep through one more night.” I got my wish! I began to feel contractions in the wee hours of the morning on Monday the 21st, but slept through them for a couple of hours. I just remember glancing at the clock around 2:30 am. Mostly I just felt very crampy in my back, and was not sure if this was it. I slept until about 4am when the contractions were getting noticeable enough that it was getting hard to sleep. When I woke up, I remember my first thought was, “Oh no, I just want to sleep.” So much for my wish, but that feeling passed quickly. I lay there experiencing the contractions and timing them a little (about 10 min. apart). I was trying to decide whether to wake Aaron. I woke him, and he timed them for a few minutes. We decided to get up around 4:30 am for Aaron to start getting everything ready. I had dilated to 9 1/2 cm in 2 hours with my first baby, so we had planned that this might go fast the second time around. My first baby was breech, however, and this baby was perfectly vertex, so I had no idea what to expect. I wondered if it would be different. I had experienced my first labor as relatively painless. Right from the start, I could tell this one was going to be somewhat different. The back cramping was new, and I remember saying to Aaron while we were still lying in bed, “It takes real intention to enjoy this.” The contractions were not yet painful or intense, but they weren’t comfortable.
I went out by myself for a dawn walk. That walk is such a special memory. It was my last walk with my precious babe inside my body. As I watched the dawn sun bring to life our beautiful, 100-year-old neighborhood in el Paso, I walked around Mundy park and welcomed my baby softly, “Come out and greet the sun.” I enjoyed the power of each contraction along my walk even though my back was uncomfortable. I was so enjoying my walk that I walked for at least 45 minutes, and then I thought I should time my contractions a little. During my last loop around the block, contractions were coming 4-5 minutes apart.
When I walked back into the house carrying a sprig of pink flowers I had picked on my walk, Aaron looked worried. I had been gone close to an hour! He had already called the midwife, in case I got back in the throws of active labor. But I was still in good spirits and just had to stop and lean on something through contractions. I put the flowers in a glass of water and ate a breakfast of yogurt. I went and sat on the birth ball in the back yard and Aaron and I hung out and talked and laughed. At one point I tried to hang with my arms around Aaron’s neck the way we had done during my labor with David, but we didn’t remember how to do it right and I nearly pulled Aaron down to the ground. We both had a fit of laughter. We kissed and loved each other a lot for a while. That brought it all on stronger. I was so grateful for this time alone together to delight in the coming birth of our child. (We didn’t have that at David’s birth). And I am so lucky to have such a loving partner who took care of everything.
I went to the bathroom for a while, and started feeling stronger contractions. I remember saying, “This is getting more intense. I’m feeling some burning, some stretching.” I know I was making a lot of noise by this point, because Aaron wanted to get me in to the bedroom, where I wouldn’t wake up David, but I felt I couldn’t move off the toilet. This whole time, Aaron was convinced that I was still in early labor, because I was smiling and having fun and my contractions were short (under 45 seconds). We even got out our Bradley book, which said that anything under a minute just isn’t doing much. So much for books. Aaron and our midwife wanted me to lie down in order to lengthen out the contractions, but by this point, I knew things were getting serious even though I couldn’t verbalize it. As I came out of the bathroom, I told Aaron to tell our midwife to come now! Aaron looked dubious, but made the call.
I somehow made it to the bedroom. And I remember getting down onto the bed was perhaps the hardest part. I remember starting a contraction as I was on all fours trying to make it down to lie on the bed. I felt frozen with pain, and remember thinking silently, “I can’t do this.” This must have been transition. Somehow I made it down to the bed. The baby pool was 3 feet away from the bed and still filling.
Aaron was still running around getting everything ready, taking a few pictures, setting up the video camera. It couldn’t have been more than a contraction or two later when I felt my entire being pushing. It was totally uncontrollable. It was like being thrown onto a whitewater raft. I was just holding on for dear life. I yelled to Aaron, “I’m pushing.” He ran in. I remember the look of surprise and confusion on his face. He said, “I see the head.” I was thinking,’What? How could that be?’ I felt between my legs, and said out loud, “What is that?” It was squishy, and I realized it was the sack. I had been planning to birth in the pool, but I remember thinking as I began pushing that there was no way I could make it the 3 feet over there. The contractions were coming too fast.
As far as I knew at this point, none of our planned attendants had arrived including our midwife and her apprentice. I wasn’t really worried about the birth, but I just remember being concerned that my 2-year-old, David (who we had moved to another room from our bed) would surely wake up screaming in a strange bed right as the baby was coming. As it turned out, our friend, Kathy who was going to help with David, had already just arrived and was waiting in the other room. The contractions were now coming one on top of the other. I remember saying, “I just want it to stop. I just want a break.” I felt the baby coming down with each push. Aaron was on the phone with Ani who was still on the road and had an apprehensive look on his face, as he was at this point expecting to catch the baby. But then he told me, “Jude (the apprentice), is outside. She’s on her way in.” I felt a bit relieved. She arrived about 10 minutes before Eli was born. Ani was about 5 minutes behind her and came in just in time to adjust the video camera. I remember Ani saying after a particularly painful contraction, “If you roll onto your back the baby might come faster.” (I was still lying on my left side.) I thought to myself, ‘My back? No way,’ and I think I said, “No.” But the “faster” part sounded pretty good. I told Aaron to help me up to a squat and within a couple of pushes, I could feel the head crowning. I was really hoping not to tear again. (The first time around I had a 3rd degree tear.) So I put my hands down and supported my perineum and eased off on my pushing (as much as I could manage). Then out came his head and his whole body all at once. From my squatting position, I could see him come out all pink and crying! (What a relief, after my first who was breech and came out purple and not breathing.) They put him right onto my belly, and I moved him up toward my breast. I felt this tiny perfect being skin to skin, and saw his dark eyes peeking up at me. What ecstasy! He was born at 7:53 am on the summer solstice.
I motioned to David who was in Kathy’s arms in the doorway to come over. He had woken only moments before just in time to see his brother emerge. He was so quiet and delighted and giving his baby brother gentle kisses on the head. Our family was together, basking in love. A few minutes later, Kathy took David out to the park, and I heard he ran around the whole thing twice. I felt the cord stop pulsing and Aaron cut it. I tried to get Elijah to latch on, but he was calm and quiet and intent on just staring at my face for the first hour. He was beautiful. I pushed out the placenta. Later he nursed. I showered. We did the newborn exam on the bed, and he was 7 lbs. 8oz. (a pound and a half bigger than my first!) I ate a big plate of lasagna, and then spent that whole day and most of the next week, lying in bed, and falling in love with my new little one.
On Saturday afternoon when I saw my midwives, the storms were already rolling in. Jude said a lot of women go into labor during storms (something about barometric pressure). That night we had dinner with Sarah and Gerardo and we took a walk in the rain. Again, I had lots of contractions while walking; they were getting a little stronger than Braxton-hicks. On the way back, we saw the most vivid double rainbow. Again, I hoped the birth would be that night, but I woke up on Sunday, Father’s Day morning, still pregnant.
That night we went to a free concert of Cuban music called Music Under the Stars at Chamizal park with some friends. As we listened to music around a picnic blanket, I told Aaron about the surprising tingling sensation I kept having in my breasts. It felt something like a let-down (which I hadn’t felt in many months, though David had recently weaned). I’ve never heard of this as a signal of impending labor, but in hindsight I think it must have been.
That whole week I had been getting powerful (but not painful) contractions on our evening walks, and this night I walked round and round the park trying to bring them on. I was thoroughly enjoying them; each one felt like an awesome wave of power pulsing through me. I knew I was opening by this point and just wondered how much longer it would be. With my first son, I’d had several weeks of very mild occasional prelabor, and I had ended up 3 cm dilated days before he was born. Some people say prelabor doesn’t do anything, but in my experience its an important part of labor. I attribute my relatively fast, easy births to this wonderful, gradual opening.
On the way back to the car, I said to Aaron, “I hope I don’t sleep through one more night.” I got my wish! I began to feel contractions in the wee hours of the morning on Monday the 21st, but slept through them for a couple of hours. I just remember glancing at the clock around 2:30 am. Mostly I just felt very crampy in my back, and was not sure if this was it. I slept until about 4am when the contractions were getting noticeable enough that it was getting hard to sleep. When I woke up, I remember my first thought was, “Oh no, I just want to sleep.” So much for my wish, but that feeling passed quickly. I lay there experiencing the contractions and timing them a little (about 10 min. apart). I was trying to decide whether to wake Aaron. I woke him, and he timed them for a few minutes. We decided to get up around 4:30 am for Aaron to start getting everything ready. I had dilated to 9 1/2 cm in 2 hours with my first baby, so we had planned that this might go fast the second time around. My first baby was breech, however, and this baby was perfectly vertex, so I had no idea what to expect. I wondered if it would be different. I had experienced my first labor as relatively painless. Right from the start, I could tell this one was going to be somewhat different. The back cramping was new, and I remember saying to Aaron while we were still lying in bed, “It takes real intention to enjoy this.” The contractions were not yet painful or intense, but they weren’t comfortable.
I went out by myself for a dawn walk. That walk is such a special memory. It was my last walk with my precious babe inside my body. As I watched the dawn sun bring to life our beautiful, 100-year-old neighborhood in el Paso, I walked around Mundy park and welcomed my baby softly, “Come out and greet the sun.” I enjoyed the power of each contraction along my walk even though my back was uncomfortable. I was so enjoying my walk that I walked for at least 45 minutes, and then I thought I should time my contractions a little. During my last loop around the block, contractions were coming 4-5 minutes apart.
When I walked back into the house carrying a sprig of pink flowers I had picked on my walk, Aaron looked worried. I had been gone close to an hour! He had already called the midwife, in case I got back in the throws of active labor. But I was still in good spirits and just had to stop and lean on something through contractions. I put the flowers in a glass of water and ate a breakfast of yogurt. I went and sat on the birth ball in the back yard and Aaron and I hung out and talked and laughed. At one point I tried to hang with my arms around Aaron’s neck the way we had done during my labor with David, but we didn’t remember how to do it right and I nearly pulled Aaron down to the ground. We both had a fit of laughter. We kissed and loved each other a lot for a while. That brought it all on stronger. I was so grateful for this time alone together to delight in the coming birth of our child. (We didn’t have that at David’s birth). And I am so lucky to have such a loving partner who took care of everything.
I went to the bathroom for a while, and started feeling stronger contractions. I remember saying, “This is getting more intense. I’m feeling some burning, some stretching.” I know I was making a lot of noise by this point, because Aaron wanted to get me in to the bedroom, where I wouldn’t wake up David, but I felt I couldn’t move off the toilet. This whole time, Aaron was convinced that I was still in early labor, because I was smiling and having fun and my contractions were short (under 45 seconds). We even got out our Bradley book, which said that anything under a minute just isn’t doing much. So much for books. Aaron and our midwife wanted me to lie down in order to lengthen out the contractions, but by this point, I knew things were getting serious even though I couldn’t verbalize it. As I came out of the bathroom, I told Aaron to tell our midwife to come now! Aaron looked dubious, but made the call.
I somehow made it to the bedroom. And I remember getting down onto the bed was perhaps the hardest part. I remember starting a contraction as I was on all fours trying to make it down to lie on the bed. I felt frozen with pain, and remember thinking silently, “I can’t do this.” This must have been transition. Somehow I made it down to the bed. The baby pool was 3 feet away from the bed and still filling.
Aaron was still running around getting everything ready, taking a few pictures, setting up the video camera. It couldn’t have been more than a contraction or two later when I felt my entire being pushing. It was totally uncontrollable. It was like being thrown onto a whitewater raft. I was just holding on for dear life. I yelled to Aaron, “I’m pushing.” He ran in. I remember the look of surprise and confusion on his face. He said, “I see the head.” I was thinking,’What? How could that be?’ I felt between my legs, and said out loud, “What is that?” It was squishy, and I realized it was the sack. I had been planning to birth in the pool, but I remember thinking as I began pushing that there was no way I could make it the 3 feet over there. The contractions were coming too fast.
As far as I knew at this point, none of our planned attendants had arrived including our midwife and her apprentice. I wasn’t really worried about the birth, but I just remember being concerned that my 2-year-old, David (who we had moved to another room from our bed) would surely wake up screaming in a strange bed right as the baby was coming. As it turned out, our friend, Kathy who was going to help with David, had already just arrived and was waiting in the other room. The contractions were now coming one on top of the other. I remember saying, “I just want it to stop. I just want a break.” I felt the baby coming down with each push. Aaron was on the phone with Ani who was still on the road and had an apprehensive look on his face, as he was at this point expecting to catch the baby. But then he told me, “Jude (the apprentice), is outside. She’s on her way in.” I felt a bit relieved. She arrived about 10 minutes before Eli was born. Ani was about 5 minutes behind her and came in just in time to adjust the video camera. I remember Ani saying after a particularly painful contraction, “If you roll onto your back the baby might come faster.” (I was still lying on my left side.) I thought to myself, ‘My back? No way,’ and I think I said, “No.” But the “faster” part sounded pretty good. I told Aaron to help me up to a squat and within a couple of pushes, I could feel the head crowning. I was really hoping not to tear again. (The first time around I had a 3rd degree tear.) So I put my hands down and supported my perineum and eased off on my pushing (as much as I could manage). Then out came his head and his whole body all at once. From my squatting position, I could see him come out all pink and crying! (What a relief, after my first who was breech and came out purple and not breathing.) They put him right onto my belly, and I moved him up toward my breast. I felt this tiny perfect being skin to skin, and saw his dark eyes peeking up at me. What ecstasy! He was born at 7:53 am on the summer solstice.
I motioned to David who was in Kathy’s arms in the doorway to come over. He had woken only moments before just in time to see his brother emerge. He was so quiet and delighted and giving his baby brother gentle kisses on the head. Our family was together, basking in love. A few minutes later, Kathy took David out to the park, and I heard he ran around the whole thing twice. I felt the cord stop pulsing and Aaron cut it. I tried to get Elijah to latch on, but he was calm and quiet and intent on just staring at my face for the first hour. He was beautiful. I pushed out the placenta. Later he nursed. I showered. We did the newborn exam on the bed, and he was 7 lbs. 8oz. (a pound and a half bigger than my first!) I ate a big plate of lasagna, and then spent that whole day and most of the next week, lying in bed, and falling in love with my new little one.
beautiful... 
