Lilah's birth story

As I think about Lilah's birth story, I often find myself comparing it to Caleb's.  Going into her birth, I had hoped for an experience that was in some ways similar, but in many ways different from Caleb's.  Caleb's birth was everything I'd hoped in terms of it being natural and having no complications.  However, it wasn't exactly a positive experience for me.  In fact, it was somewhat traumatic.  When Caleb was born, I felt little joy.  All I could think was, "I'm SO glad that is over!"  The labor had sort of taken over me.  I felt out of control...like it was all just happening to me and there wasn't much I could do but persevere through it.  I am a determined kind of person...I don't really know how to give up.  So I did it naturally as I'd planned and I survived it, but there was nothing positive about it.  This time, I wanted that to be different.  We'd read a book called The Joy of Natural Childbirth and I was hoping to apply some of the things I'd learned from it to have a more joyful childbirth experience.  Here's how it all went down...

On December 12th, at around 9pm, my contractions began.  I labored at home through the night, in bed but not getting a whole lot of sleep.  It was strangely reminiscent of my first labor. 

We planned to have Lilah at the Mountain Midwifery birth center, Colorado's only freestanding birth center, located about 30 minutes from where we now live.  I'd had my 40 week appointment scheduled for the morning of the 13th, at 8:50am.  So I'd decided to just go in for that appointment and see what the midwife thought about whether I should head over to the birth center.  By the time we were heading there, my contractions were fairly regular, about every 5-6 minutes.  At my appointment, the midwife said that we were welcome to head over to the birth center and get settled in a room, which we decided to do.  I chose the "log room," the largest of the three rooms.  We got our things out of the car and headed quickly back to the room.  I was already having to really focus during contractions, and things continued to progress steadily.

My labor experience was already much different this time.  I felt much more in control.  I actually had something to help me through the contractions instead of just trying to endure them.  I was much more present this time.  I actually heard the music playing on my ipod.  As I look back, I can remember pretty much everything, which was not the case with my first labor...it had all been a blur.  Jason was a huge help.  I didn't want him to leave my side for a second.

After a while, the midwife asked if I wanted to get in the tub.  I was a little afraid to mess with what was working, but I was doing a lot of standing and walking around and my legs were pretty tired.  So I decided to give the tub a shot.  I didn't know how much longer I had, but I was thinking I would probably have the baby in there when the time came anyway.  So I got in and spent the rest of my labor there.  I don't know how long I pushed.  It wasn't as long as I had with Caleb, but longer than I would have liked.  Still, it was so nice to get to that point and know that I was almost done...that my baby would be there soon.  And at 1:46pm, there she was!  She was born in the water and immediately brought to my chest.  I was overjoyed to be holding her in my arms.  I was definitely thankful that the labor was over, but I was able to truly treasure the gift that the labor had brought.

Lilah and I got out of the tub and got settled in bed.  She didn't leave my chest for over an hour.  Jason cut the cord after about an hour.  I really wasn't paying attention to the time at all, but at some point I got to take an herbal bath that the nurse had prepared for me.  I relaxed in there for a while and Jason got to spend some time bonding with his new baby girl.  After the bath, I got dressed and we got ready to head home.  It took us a little while to get everything packed up, but at 6:something, we were in the car and ready to go.  As we drove home, I marveled at how different I felt compared to several hours after Caleb's birth.  There was no way I'd be in the car heading home that soon after Caleb was born.  It also occurred to me as we drove that we'd been heading to the birth center that morning at around the same time Jason would be heading to work.  And we were heading home at about the same time Jason would be heading home from work.  But instead of a typical day of work, we'd gone and had a baby in that time.  Pretty crazy.

As we arrived home to introduce Lilah to her big brother, I was tired, but filled with joy.  So very different this time around.  That morning I had left the house with a baby in my belly.  That evening, we were back at home as a family of four, ready to start a new adventure.

Introducing...

Lilah Jane Fraze

Born on December 13, 2011 at 1:46pm

Weight: 6 lbs 14.5 oz 

Length: 18.5 in 

O Christmas tree

This year we decided to try something new...we bought a permit to cut down a tree in the National Forest. So on Saturday morning, although we woke up to cold, snowy weather, we ventured out to find our tree!  We knew that we'd end up with a tree a little more Charlie Brown-esque than if we went to a tree farm, but this was more fun...

 Cutting down our tree...

All ready to go!

Our tree's new home...

Decorating away...

Tada!