Born 2/24/2010
Weight 7 lbs 2oz
Height 19 3/4 inches
Before our 2nd son was born I had always viewed birth has this huge life event. Yes, bringing a life into the world is an enormous and life changing event, but the event itself does not seem as vast as I used to view it. Giving birth to our 2nd son was just part of that days events. There was no big commotion over anything going on, there was no chaos. The day was completely unruffled by giving birth, it was like it was a completely natural thing to be going on inside that day. It was so natural and calm. Yes, I’d been planning out every little detail for countless weeks, we’d been preparing our home, buying all the supplies we would need, coming up with all these ‘worries’, and at the time of planning it seemed like it was going to be this huge time stopping event in our lives. That day came and went so quickly that our lives didn’t seem miss a beat. Maybe is has something to do with it being the second child, maybe it has to do with having a home birth this time, but no matter what the reason Kasens birth felt so comfortable happening. Its like he just slipped perfectly into our lives one Wednesday afternoon.
Planning a home birth in Nebraska is a little tricky because of the laws that are in place. I want to make things clear that this was not a decision that we took lightly. Home birth is a very safe and practical choice for some families. I didn't just say one day "lets do it at home" and left it like that. We did a ton of research on our own, I connected with other moms who had given birth outside of the hospital, and we made sure we took the necessary precautions for all the "what ifs". We finally decided that having our second child at home was in the best interest of our family. The very thought of having to goto a hospital to give birth had me very uneasy. So the months of planning went by very quickly yet as soon as the third trimester kicked in everything seem to slow down. I’d spent my days organizing the closets, cleaning the cupboards, and baking anything that would keep my mind occupied so I would not be counting down the days. My due date finaly came and passed. I knew that it was not likely he’d be born on his exact due date so we waited…and waited…and waited. A week over due I started getting all the questions, “When are they inducing?” “You know its dangerous to go so far over due right?” “You’re still pregnant?” as if I didn’t realize I was still pregnant, thanks. So off to the acupuncturist I went to see if that would start labor. It didn’t. I’ve heard being intimate with your husband is a sure fire way to get things going. It sure wasn’t. “Eat a whole pineapple” someone suggested. That did nothing. We tried just about every technique to naturally induce labor. It was pretty clear that this little boy was not going to come out until HE was good and ready. I reached two weeks overdue and from that point on I pretty much secluded myself from the outside world because I knew what everyone would say. I did quite a bit of research on the dangers of going past your due date...and to my surprise, the dangers of being medically induced are far greater then going past your due date. So from that point on I decided that we would just let this little boy pick his own birthday.
On Tuesday night my husband and I broke out one of our old favorite games, Rock Band! He jammed out on the guitar while I beat on the drums. It was nice to stop obsessing over when this baby was going to come. We went to bed a little later then planned and the thought of going into labor that night didn’t even exists in my mind. Six o’clock a.m I was coaxed awake by this gnawing pain in my stomach. I tried to ignore it and tried to go back to sleep. Ten minutes later there is was again. I decided I would try to get up and goto the bathroom. By seven o’clock these cramps were coming on every five minutes and lasting for over a minute. I woke David up, and then made a phone call to, we will call her Mary. “It’s finally my turn to have a baby” I told her. I figured things would take a while so we just laid in bed and tried to get some more rest. I quickly knew that sleeping was not going to happen. Then a million things rushed into my mind that needed to get done. I should cook breakfast for me and the boys, I need to do the dishes, vacuuming would be a good idea, my hair was a mess and I wanted to put on some makeup (we were, after all, having company), the pool needed blown up and filled, I needed to get all the supplies out and ready. So I got up and a contraction hit me to where I had to stop and work through it. When it was over I took a few more steps to get started on my to do list, and WHAM another contraction hit me again. These were not those nice little ‘wave’ contractions, these were hit you hard, knock you to your knees contractions. After a few more of these I realized I had only made it a few feet from my bed, I would not be getting anything done. I laid back in bed to slow the contractions down because I knew it would still be a few hours before Mary would get there. Our son, Jace, had woke up and wanted to be in bed cuddling and playing with me. At that point I was having to concentrate through contractions but I was trying my best to smile at him and explain to him he was going to meet this baby that had been in my tummy all this time. I tried to coach my husband through the most important things that needed done and I just decided I’d forget about the little things that didn’t really matter. He ended up getting Jace dressed and off to my mothers. He called Julie, our photographer, and told her to be prepared to leave work today. He got some water boiling, all the birth supplies out, the pool blown up and started being filled. Meanwhile I’m laying in bed working through these fairly strong contractions in between puking in the trashcan. I knew throwing up was a sign of being in transition, but I knew I was not there yet.
By 10:00am everyone had arrived at our home. Mary, her two apprentices, and our photographer. I tried to smile and say ‘hi’ to everyone but I knew I was not going to be a very good hostess today. We ended up running out of hot water so I had to wait till around 11am to get in the pool so they could fill the rest up with water from the pots on the stove. I almost felt like I was in the olden days with each stock pot of water they’d pour. Finally, after checking the babies heart tones, I gladly eased into the warm pool. Immediately things felt so much better, contractions were bearable again and I was able to relax and enjoy the moment. With each contraction coming and going I just floated through the waves of intensity. With the warm water surrounding me, everything was so calm. I sat in the pool with my eyes closed. The room felt so warm and welcoming. I sank deeper in the pool with each contraction, I became lost in the noises around me. The trickling of the water off my body, the soft music playing in the back ground, the swooshing sound of that Marys dress made, the soft opening and closing of Julies shutter on her camera. I became lost in the feelings around me. The feeling of everyone waiting…but waiting patiently. The feeling of the water surrounding me completely, the feeling of a loving strong hand pressing firmly on my back through each contraction, the feeling of knowing this labor was going to be ending soon.
At 12:15 it happened. I hit transition. I stopped and said “I can’t do this”, I knew pushing was coming up and I did not want to push. I was done! A soft, calming voice said to me “Yes you can, your body will just take over, work with it”. I looked up and saw the two apprentices smiling, like they knew something, they knew I could do it and they knew it would be soon. I closed my eyes to the world again and at that point I could hear soft rustling of people around the room getting things ready. Mary asked David if he was going to catch his baby, I remember thinking “no way is it already that time” and I remember thinking “no way does David want to catch his baby”, he is a little squeamish, but to my surprise he went over to where she was and she started explaining things to him. She said the position that I was in sometimes indicated a shorter cord so she explained what to do when the baby came out and to take the cord and baby under my leg, she explained quite a lot to him but her words started floating away. I must have called David over because the 1st chance he got to come hold my hands he took. I was on my knees bent over the pools edge holding on to David with all my might. By then Mary was right, my body had taken over and there was nothing I could do to stop it from pushing this baby out. With each push I heard Mary say “good job, that’s it”. She felt a cervical lip and ended up pushing it up through a contraction, which I was not even aware of that happening until afterwards. Finally I felt a POP, my waters had finally broken. With another push at 12:30 the MW said “whoa, pant pant”. I felt that horrible yet wonderful ring of fire. With my husband holding my hands he panted with me as I eased the babies head out, the next thing I heard was “The heads out, there’s a hand, the other hand, the body…” then at twelve thirty two, the rest of him slipped out. I sat back and I felt him for the very first time, in my arms. I will never forget how his precious skin felt against mine. He was so soft, and slippery. At that moment I felt every feeling and emotion there was to feel, yet I was completely numb. I felt like crying, I felt like laughing, I felt like I could do anything. Nothing else existed in that moment except my baby, myself and the arms surrounding me.
We sat there and waited until the cord stopped pulsing and David cut it. We sat in the pool for an hour and a half. He was so calm and peaceful, not a cry came out. His eyes were wide open and he was just looking around at his brand new world. He nursed, Mary fed me some food, and we all just let it sink in. Baby Kasen and I finally took a bath, got a weight and height for him, and then got dressed. He was 7lbs 2oz 19 3/4in long with an apgar score of 9! We then crawled into our own bed and just soaked him up.
We finally made phone calls to tell everyone and it was finally time to introduce Jace to his little brother. Jace immediately loved him and gave him kisses. Jace still isn’t sure if he wants to keep his little brother around, but he does love Kasen and is sure to give him kisses whenever he’s crying.
Giving birth at home was truly amazing, I wish more women were able to experience what I did that day. We all have these “Birth Plans” we put in place when preparing to give birth, and it almost never goes as planned. I certainly did not plan on only being in labor 6.5 hours, I had planned to do a lot more then I did that day. I thought I’d be able to get a little housework done while listening to this immaculate birth CD that I had been making for the past 6 months. I planned to do a lot more then I did, but sometimes in birth it’s best to relax and breathe and do nothing else, and that’s exactly what I needed to do.
For pictures from that day be sure to visit www.juliebranyan.com
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