I received the papers confirming her registration today…

Well, technically, I received them on Monday but they had misspelled her name, so I called them right away and they changed it and sent me the new papers.

Registration after a planned unassisted pregnancy and birth is not an easy thing to do by yourself here in Quebec. Though the law doesn’t ask for medical papers etc. the government doesn’t make it easy to go that route. For those I know who have decided to fight the fight, they have had long and drawn out battles and threats of going to court. I was not willing to do that, the stress of not having her registered, having problems getting benefits were just not worth the fight for me, neither of course was I willing to go to the hospital or see a doctor to get the papers, so I called the midwife friend of mine and asked her to write me a letter attesting that she saw there was a new baby and that I am a mom that had given birth soon before.

However, besides the letter written and signed almost 2 weeks after she was born, all the information shows that it was a planned unassisted birth.  There is no doctor’s name, no agpar scores, no transfer information, our address as the birthing place and I wrote my name in the space that asks the name of the person that helped me deliver.

So it is done, getting the letter feels somewhat like a completion of the birth.  I can now travel with my daughter without worry, we can breath and relax knowing that everything is done.

(5 weeks old)

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Birth of Wilhelmina Anne
• Introducing Wilhelmina Anne…
• 41 weeks…
• In Limbo…
• random thoughts at 39 weeks…

I was just hitting 41 weeks and very tired of the pregnancy; I was sore all over and hadn’t slept a good night sleep in weeks.

At one point on Monday, January 25^th I went to the bathroom and when I wiped I realized that I had lost my mucous plug. It was the first time that I had noticed it with all my pregnancies, so it was surprising to me, but I knew it didn’t mean much.

I went to bed that night feeling like I was going to be pregnant forever, but then I woke at 3:30am Tuesday morning by a feeling of wetness that made me go to the bathroom and check what was happening.

I got up and felt a small gush, I wiped and had bloody show, I went back to my bed and lay down and I was leaking again, not much but enough that it was noticeable, but it stopped when I got up so I was sure that it was a slow leak. I woke Simon and told him. Excited and my mind racing, I tried to sleep but I couldn’t, and instead I watched a bit of a movie on my Zune while everyone slept, noticing contractions once in a while every 20-30 minutes.

When Simon’s alarm rang I told him that I would rather him stay home as I knew that I wasn’t in a good position to be a good parent that day and I was scared that things would start quickly when he was at work and he wouldn’t be able to get home quickly. One of my fears was that I would be labouring alone with the boys around and I didn’t want that to happen. I called my friend Martine at 7:30am to put her on standby for the day in case I needed her, and then decided to go to the grocery store as soon as it opened at 8am and we needed a few things.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Sushi stand in the grocery store was open and I ordered a platter of my favourites to keep my energy up throughout the day, hoping that I might  labour quickly and that I would have a snack for after.

I got home and tried to relax. I puttered around, hung out in bed with the laptop and watched a movie, sat on the exercise ball, switched positions, listened to music, read stories to Khéna, looked on the internet and just waited for labour to kick in. The contractions would get stronger and closer together but then they would taper out again.

By early evening my contractions had picked up a bit again and I decided that the pool might be a nice place to relax. With Khéna, the pool is what made the contractions harder and stronger so I was hoping also that it might do the same again this time. So at about 7pm we started filling the pool and I got in. The water felt amazing, the buoyancy felt amazing and I was able to move around freely but my contractions stopped completely. I welcomed the break and the warm water, and tried to relax and found myself feeling very sleepy and tired. By 8:45 I decided that I would just go to bed and try to sleep. I called my friend Martine and told her my plans and that it would most likely not be that night; I would just try to sleep and regain some energy and hope for tomorrow.  I went to bed and closed my eyes and then it hit me; a contraction and pain in my back that took my breath away. I tried to fall asleep again and then another one hit and it continued like that until I couldn’t stay in bed anymore. At 10:30pm, just as Simon was heading downstairs to bed, I was heading upstairs deciding to go back in the pool. In the back of my mind I was hoping that the water would stop the contractions again so that I could go to sleep; I felt so tired.

I stayed in the water for nearly an hour and a half while Simon boiled water to make it warmer. The contractions continued at about every 10-15 minutes, the pain radiated in my back, and I couldn’t get into a position that was comfortable. As I lay in the water I kept on hearing the sound of water running and finally realized that the pool was leaking into the air chamber. I don’t know how I found the leak so quickly but I was able to block the hole with a bit of poster gum. However, the chamber had about an inch of water at the bottom and because the water there was cold, the pool water was cooling down a lot faster than in should have. By 1am, I was exhausted and needed to try to lie down again and try to sleep so we headed downstairs to bed. I was shivering and shaking all over and feeling cold and I felt I just couldn’t continue. Khéna woke up just around that time so he lay on the bed next to me and held my hand and fell back asleep. I lay down and got into the position that had helped Colin turn when I was in labour with him. It was comfortable except for when a contraction hit every 10-15 minutes and I asked Simon to press on my lower back which helped a lot. Though I was vocalizing quite a bit, Khéna slept soundly next to me and wasn’t disturbed at all.

At 1:40am I fell asleep and slept between two contractions but they were getting more intense and again, I couldn’t be in bed anymore.  I had to get up. I had to move.

I was still shivering, my legs were shaky, I felt exhausted and I couldn’t stay standing up. It was about 2:30 when I went on the birthing ball. As the contractions intensified, I felt a bit of relief by leaning back on Simon and putting my pelvis forward so that my lower back was on the birthing ball. I was feeling weepy and I started to say to Simon that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I had another very intense contraction and at 3am I decided to call my friend Martine. Unlike my other births where I needed to be left alone, this time I felt that I needed support, I needed someone who has been in the same position before, someone that understood what I was going through someone that could say “I know” and mean it. I called their cell phone and there was no answer, my heart sank a bit. 15 minutes later, she called back and I asked her to come. I knew she had an hours’ drive but it felt good to know she was on the way.

I decided to head back to the pool upstairs while I waited. Simon boiled more water, I patched up the pool again with more poster gum and with each contraction that hit I asked Simon to press on my lower back. The contractions were strong and painful but between contractions I was able to talk normally. They were still about every 10 minutes, so though I had time between contractions, each one was wearing me down.

At 4:15 the front door opened quietly and Martine had arrived. The contractions continued as they were before, with both her and Simon taking turns putting pressure on my back with each one.

After about half an hour the contractions started intensifying again and starting getting closer and closer together.  I stopped talking between contractions and needed to concentrate and reflect. Soon after, there was another jump in the contractions intensity and they were feeling like they were coming one after the other.

I kept changing positions, on my knees, lying down in the water, hanging over the side of the pool but the position that brought the most relief was when someone was pressing on my back and I was leaning on the side of the pool, cupping my hands under my belly and pulling my abdomen up and in.

Then it happened.

I felt the need to push and I went with it and my water broke. The contractions were one on top of the other and I said out loud “its coming!”. My body continued to push and the head crowned and then finally came out. I felt someone was pulling at her, and asked for nobody to touch, but no one was.

I was feeling her body turn and move inside me, pushing against my pelvis from the inside, it is a feeling that I will never forget. The head was out and I waited for the next contraction but I couldn’t stay still, I needed to move again. I went to a squatting position, then a sitting position and even asked Simon to take pictures. Then I went back onto my knees and finally the next contraction came, my body took over and her body slid out.

I then realized that no one was getting her and that she was at the bottom of the pool so I quickly turned around and scooped her up. Her cord was wrapped around her shoulder and torso, so I untangled her noticing at the same time that she had a true knot in her cord. It took a few moments for her to take her first breath but her body was pink and the cord was still attached so I was not worried, I just rubbed her back and put her tummy on my forearm with her head looking down and she started to cry. I asked for a towel, told Simon to go wake up the boys and then remembered that I could now see if we had a girl or a boy.

A Girl!!! We have a daughter!

Xavier was already awake listening to us from downstairs so he was the first one up. Simon woke Colin up and brought him upstairs and when he caught on that the reason we woke him was because he had a new sister he was awake completely. Simon was not able to wake Khéna up; he was sleeping too soundly so he came up about 30 min later. I got out of the pool and went to the couch and as I sat down the placenta came out right under me, so we got a bowl and transferred it to that. I decided at that point that I wanted to be in my bed.  Simon got some scissors and the length of braided embroidery thread that I had prepared a few days earlier and we tied off the cord and cut it. Colin had tears in his eyes thinking that we were hurting her but a few words assured him that everything was OK.

I headed down stairs and we cuddled and she nursed and I made a few phone calls while Simon took the water out of the birthing pool, cleaned up a bit, took care of the boys, did some laundry and Martine prepared a beautiful plate of fresh fruit, dates, carob squares and banana bread for me to snack on and made breakfast for the boys. I took a few doses of Shepherds purse tincture as I was bleeding a bit more than I would have liked but I was still feeling good so though I was still bleeding, I wasn’t too worried. I decided to massage my uterus a bit though to help things along and finally with the tincture,and the nursing things calmed down a bit.

A little later in the day we weighed her in at 8 lbs, 8 oz and decided to call her Wilhelmina Anne, a name that both Simon and I loved and had in common on our lists. A few days later we measured her at 20 inches.

Though this labour and birth was longer and  harder than my first Unassisted Birth, it was so much more rewarding, peaceful and less stressful than my first two births. Though they progressed the same way, they were managed so differently, and though it was hard, I am so proud that I went through the experience as it showed me first hand what I believe in. That leaving things alone is the best way to “manage” a birth.

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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• Placental Encapsulation…
• Introducing Wilhelmina Anne…
• 41 weeks…

Our fourth child… first daughter…

Born this morning, unassisted in the water weighing in at 8lbs, 8oz

Just born…

First Nurse…

4 hours old…

Discovering the world…

10 hours old…

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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• Placental Encapsulation…
• 41 weeks…

and I am not pregnant anymore…

This morning, Jan 27th at 5:08am, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl…I can’t believe it! a Girl!!!

I am resting now but I will of course be adding more details and pics very soon…

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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Seriously, this is what life feels like at the moment… everything is standing still awaiting the arrival of the new babe…

I am 40 weeks now, and 2 weeks ago I was having tons of contractions, going for hours on end and then stopping, the baby was placed pretty well and I seriously thought things would starts sooner rather than later… silly, delusional me…

Everything stopped, the baby started flipping from side to side with the head leaning on my right hip. My pelvis has been out of alignment for a long time, the knee problems that I had as a child can attest to that. When I started going to the Chiro about 4-5 years ago I saw quite difference… I also have a tilted Uterus that is always to the right, even when it is fully extended with a full term baby. My first two babies were posterior, stuck on that right hip and I had long and hard labours with them… but after visiting the Chiro last pregnancy and realizing what the problem was, I had a normal and beautiful birth (of course having a UC also made it a lot less stressful, which was a great help also)… anyway, now I am quite aware on position and I am quite obsessed at getting baby in the right position to make things easier for both of us…  So for the last week or so, I have been trying to get baby back into the right place but it wasn’t working…

On Monday I decided to go for my first ever acupuncture appt. I was a bit sceptical but I was quite impressed… though it didn’t help anything along (maybe it would have if baby was in the right position though) she also worked on my lower back pain and that night I slept like I hadn’t slept in weeks and the pain has been reduced by at least half… Yesterday morning the baby was still on that right hip and still flipping, so I did a bit of inversion, on my knees with my butt in the air for a while and then when I felt the back slip towards my front I laid down on my left side until gravity brought the back that way… then I got up and tried to bring the baby down… walking, on the birth ball , sitting straight up and leaning forward etc… and all day the feet were right were they were supposed to be and when I went to the Chiro last night she confirmed that the baby is now back to a great position and the head is pretty much engaged (I can’t palpitate my lower abdomen anymore… so it was good to hear from someone else)… I also started having contractions again, which is annoying but it at least it means that something is happening again…

So, yes… Limbo… besides being obsessed with the babe’s position, things have been just in waiting… it feels like life is just at a standstill… Simon is going to work but doesn’t have much work to do anymore, or is rushing to get what he has to do done so that he can leave at anytime… I haven’t brought the boys out in longer than I wish to think of… they play outside in the yard but I just don’t have the energy to go somewhere with them especially because that would mean driving the car for a while and the last times I have done that have been quite painful for me and it has taken a few days to recover… so we are all going a bit stir crazy here…

Everything is ready for baby, so maintaining housework is all that is left to do… I would like to sew but I have no inspiration at the moment of what to make…

The boys are waiting also… “soon” seems to no longer be specific enough… they want to know when the baby is coming (and Colin instists it will be a girl and tears come to his eyes when we mention that it might be another boy)

We are all just waiting… waiting for labour, waiting for birth, waiting for the unknown, waiting for Simon to be on Parental leave and home with us… just waiting… as I heard someone say… the last few weeks of pregnancy should be considered as a trimester all to itself…

So to keep us all waiting… do you have any predicitions?

When this baby will come? What will it be? weight? height?  please entertain me a bit

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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I haven’t been writing much, honestly I haven’t been doing much…

I am now at more than 39 weeks and in pain.. I had a great massage and chiro appt last week that helped me a lot for a few days, but the weekend with grocery shopping and the blessingway tired me out completely… Nights have also been rough and I seem to have a waking period at about 3am and then I can’t get back to sleep…

So my daily pattern has been being a boring mom that does just the minimum during the day while Simon is at work, making supper, eating and then heading to bed to relax (with the laptop, my mp3 player or my Nintendo DS etc…)… I don’t fall asleep any sooner than usual but at least I can be more comfortable than if I am upstairs… then sleep until I wake up for a few hours in the night and then luckily I seem to be able to fall asleep again around the time Simon gets up and I sleep for another hour or two…

Though I do enjoy many aspects of being pregnant, chances are that this is my last pregnancy and especially because of the SPD, I am feeling OK with that… I love feeling the baby move, I love the anticipation of meeting our new child, I actually love giving birth… but, I don’t want to experience this pain again…

It is amazing how the end of pregnancy seems to take over life, Simon is a bit on edge and getting everything ready to leave work at any time,  every twinge has me wondering if it will lead to another, prodromal labour for hours at times messes with your brain and every day is a waiting game…the baby isn’t engaged yet but is mostly hanging out in a good position.. I would like to do more on the exercise/birthing ball but the SPD won’t allow it… I feel OK while on the ball but it is after that is the problem…

I would also love to go for a walk but I don’t feel stable enough in the snow and Ice… (especially since I fell a few weeks ago in front of the grocery store) and I know that though it would feel good, I would be in more pain while walking and especially after…

The boys are also ready for the birth, we had an amazing talk the other other day about the uterus, the cervix and how it all works… though Khéna’s understanding is limited to understanding that there is actually a baby in there and that it will come out and have “maju”, the older boys, especially Xavier really seem to understand what will be happening physically during labour… It makes me realize that there is a quite an age difference between the oldest and what will soon be the youngest…

So, yes, tired of being pregnant, tired of the pain… but within 3 weeks it will be over, within 3 weeks it will all be forgotten, within three weeks we will be meeting be a family falling in love with the new little member… I hope it is sooner than later…

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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What a beautiful day I had yesterday… my friend Gen threw me a blessingway, a very quiet and quaint gathering with some of  my favourite women…

Gen hosted it at her house, being the mama of 11 1/2 month twins it was easier for everyone that way, and I got a ride with a local friend so I didn’t have to drive to Montreal, something I am no longer very comfortable doing at the moment.

Two other friends met us there making us five total… a perfect number of people to all share and talk together. Gen’s partner left with the kids so they could nap in the car and left us women alone for a few hours in the afternoon..

Everyone brought a little treat…

and we talked,  and shared, and I got so pampered with a foot bath and massage and hair brushing… it was really awkward being the centre of attention, but it was also so relaxing  and I allowed myself to soak it up…

(knitted babylegs)

One of the things I loved the most was that though 3 of the friends know each other, Gen, who was hosting didn’t know them and because they are all so important to me and we all share the same values, it was such a great feeling to bring both parts of my life together..

At the end, we all wrapped a piece of wool around our wrists all linked together and each of us said a small blessing for the baby and birth and then we cut the pieces and tied them on our wrists to keep until the baby is born…

It was just an amazing afternoon and because most likely this is our last baby, I will remember and cherish it always…

Thank you ladies

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
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After a lot of thought I have decided to invite a friend to the birth if I feel the need…

Though I need to be alone in labour, I also need someone there to do certain things for me, bring water, bring tinctures,make tea and help clean up afterwards and of course, be around for the kids. Though Simon is an amazing help, depending on the time of the birth and the kids needs I don’t want to expect that he can do everything. Of course if things happen in the night and there is no need to be a parent then things will most likely go smoothly but if not, I think it would good thing to have someone else here.

Furthermore, though Simon’s usual route to work takes about an hour and half (we live almost 100km away) if I were to call him in the daytime when there are no express buses, the route would take about 3 hours. Depending on how labour is progressing, I am not too sure about my feelings of being a mom of three for three hours while having contractions.

The friend that I have invited is a fellow UCer, a UCer that knows exactly why I feel the need to birth alone, because she has the same reasons. I know that she will not panic, that she will not be invasive, that she will be what I need her to be. Either to take care of the kids, or be around when Simon is doing so, just be another pair of hands to help. She also lives on the route that Simon would take to get back home, so if something were to happen in the daytime, she could leave her kids with family, in the time that it takes for Simon to get to the Metro and she could pick him up and do the rest of the route together. Shaving at least an hour, if not more, off of the travel time.

It was hard decision to make, to have someone in “my space” while giving birth, but I feel a relief that if I need someone, she will be there and she will be exactly what I need. She is pretty excited too

Possibly Related Posts:

• My daughter is official!
• The Birth of Wilhelmina Anne
• My first two births…
• Placental Encapsulation…
• Introducing Wilhelmina Anne…