Macy J

It's about time I recorded the birth of Macy on this blog. Let's start on Friday, October 12th. I was really hoping I would have her soon, even though I wasn't due until the 21st. I was really ready to be done being pregnant. I throughly reviewed my caseload with my coworker taking my place at work, assuring her that I would be back Monday, but "just in case" I filled her in on my patients. That weekend my in-laws were in town so we hung out with them on Saturday and we went to Ikea and bought a couch. I was feeling pretty tired and took a nice nap on Saturday. Saturday I realized I didn't have any pictures of my belly, so I took one. (Just in time!)

It's really nice to not be pregnant anymore...

Sunday I woke up and was grumpy and feeling huge. Some friends invited us over for a pumpkin coconut curry for dinner, which was yummy. (Thanks Kyle and Shanel!) After we got back from dinner, about 8 pm, I started having very faint contractions, which I wasn't sure were contractions at first. They started getting a little stronger and I took a shower and we started timing them. We joked it was the curry that started my labor. We were comfy on our new couch and timing until about 2 a.m., when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. Some of them had been very painful, and I thought for the first time, "Why am I doing this without drugs? I believe in modern medicine. I am a crazy person!" Jacob was extremely helpful and talked me through the pain and was my rock through this whole process. So, at 2 a.m., we called the hospital cause we thought it might be time to go in. They gave us the bad news that they wanted me to be at that point for about a couple hours before coming in.  I was pretty bummed. The contractions got further apart then, until eventually at around 6 a.m., they were 5, then 3, then 2 minutes apart and we realized we had better go to the hospital. My bag was mostly packed, but Monday I had planned to finish it. (Don't procrastinate!)

So we arrived at the hospital and I was dilated to an 8! I was so excited. They checked things out and took me right over to the delivery room. The midwife who was on call was Jen. It's funny because I had met her once before and she kind of rubbed me the wrong way, so I had been hoping I wouldn't get her, but she ended up being perfect and was awesome to have there. They had me try pretty much every position, including standing, on the birthing stool, and in bed. I didn't want an IV, and they let me drink water and apple juice during the labor. Sometime in there my water broke. Near this time I thought for the second time, why am I doing this naturally? I had to push for a long, long, time, and then, at 10:44 a.m. she was born! Jacob was planning on catching her, but the midwife said she came out so fast there wasn't even time to bring him over to catch her. She also said I would be an excellent candidate for home delivery next time if I wanted to, because things went so smoothly. I thought, "next time?? How does anyone do this more than once?" haha.


Looking back on everything, I am glad I had an unmedicated delivery. There are a lot of benefits for the baby and for the mother. (If you want to know more you should watch The Business of Being Born or read the Bradley Method book.)

Just after birth and getting cleaned up

I love her expressions! 

It has been very sweet to see my parents become grandparents for the first time and see them fight over who will hold her. They time each other to make sure they get in equal holding time. Being a mom is pretty incredible. Macy is a very sweet and good baby and she doesn't cry a lot. We love her so much!

Our first family photo on Halloween.