hooray he is here!!!

Thats right. Born on decemer 6th 2007 at 6:59 pm.... Fenix Sebastian McG is here in the flesh. Weighing in at a whopping 4lbs 11oz and measuring 17.5 inches long, he is a total trooper. I would write more but he won't let me put him down. so look at these pics, I'll post a birth story later... p.s. we are still at the birthing ctr and will be here till Monday so they can watch him closely for signs of jaundice.

did you know....

....That the presence of people who upset the laboring mother can actually stall labor?

I have been reading alot about this and it's quite amazing that the progression of labor is so suggestive that this can happen. Woman who are not surrounded by people who love them and care about them are much more likely to end up with a stalled labor. Or more to the point, women who have a person or persons in the room who are negative, mean or not supportive can end up with a stalled labor. And when that happens, out comes the vaccuum extractors... the forceps.... and ultimately maybe even a c-section. It must be hard to cope with the pain and being in such an emotionally tumultious state when you know that one or more of the people in the room don't have your best interest at heart.

I'm really happy about who will be in the room with me during my labor. Besides the midwife and a nurse it will just be me and Jason in the room. I'm glad that I had the presence of mind to make good, sound decisions about that. I wouldn't want anything or any one to take away from my birth experience. It's a special time and *only* the people that love you and support you should be included.

scary thursday

So we just got back from L&D. That's right, you read correct, L&D. I had some weird weird stuff happen over the last two days. I got to freaking out about it so I called the midwifery. Well apparently I was right to freak. Worst case scenario, I lost my mucous plug and was leaking amniotic fluid. Best case scenario I am officially incontinent and was just pissing myself. TMI, I know but that was the deal and I was very very nervous.

Well we rushed down there to the birthing center. And you should know that I sobbed uncontrollably the whole way. It's crazy how scared and worried I was. I'm only 27 weeks along... I kept saying to myself that I can't have this baby now.

Turns out it was not the worst case (not the aforementioned incontinence either). I just have a simple infection that can be fixed with a dose of antibiotics. Thank the lord.

One cool thing about today is that they hooked me up to the fetal monitor so we got to hear his little heart beating and all of his little kicks and punches and hiccups in real time. That was pretty neat. I hope I don't have to see that place again for at least another 11 weeks. At that point it will be the right time :)

water births

I guess I always thought that the option of whether or not to have a water birth in a birthing center was just a forgone conclusion, like the option of whether or not to accept pain medications during labor. I thought I'd just get to say 'yes I want to do that, and so it would be done'.

Turns out I was mistaken. Water birth is not something that just any care giver or facility will allow. The midwives in the practice that I go to, do not perform water births. It is not clear to me if it is not allowed by the birthing center facility (owned by Group health) or if it is simply something that this practice does not do. Either way, it's not an option for me. I can labor in the tub in the birthing room all I want but I need to get out once that baby is really on it's way down the birth canal.

But maybe you have more options than I do. Or maybe you are not a chicken (like me) and you are having a home birth. Cue the aquadoula:


You can rent or purchase one of these to use in your own home for a water birth or even just so that you can labor in a nice spacious tub. How very cool that someone started this business.

Click here to learn more.