He is GINORMOUS

Here is a cute picture I had to include of my Dad and Midwife, the ones who helped deliver Mac. 

 Here is the obligatory homebirth photo with the dad weighing the baby with the fish scale. 

 Seriously, when Jen told me that he was 9lbs 6oz I laughed because I knew she was wrong. I said, don't you mean 8lbs 6oz? She laughed right back at me and even took a picture to prove it. 

Like I said before, I had NO IDEA that he was so much bigger than the girls. I always asks my patients if the baby is bigger or smaller than their previous ones. Most of them can tell if they are bigger or smaller. I knew he was bigger, but I didn't think he was that bigger.  Can you tell I am still in shock?

He dropped down to 8lbs 13oz at 2 days old, but then by 6 days he was back to 9lbs 2oz, and today we are going in to get his weight checked again to see how he is doing. 

After the Fact

 Both girls were pretty excited to be there for the birth of "Baby Mac"

 (Cara won't call him just Mac, it is always Baby Mac)

Ryann did tell me at one point she was a little scared when I said "I can't do this" but then she told me that she knew I could and it really wasn't scary after that.  

 His face was a little bruised because of how he was born, but it quickly resolved by the next day and when we took him into the pediatrician to check for jaundice, he came back clean and clear. Thankfully we didn't need to go back for a second heel stick. 

We are pretty happy to have this little man in our world. He has had a lot of visitors and we are being well fed and taken care of. 

We have only had 1 really rough night, but most haven't been that bad so far.

Welcome to the World (part 2)

Time gets blurry for me after 8:00 when my midwife and her student show up. I was in some good labor at this point and I didn't have my cell phone to write things down. I do know that I was really concerned to not go poop in the tub (sorry for TMI, but this is my birth story). While it would really not have mattered to Rich if I did, he sort of freaked out a the thought of the fish net to scoop out poop if it did happen. Since I was concerned about this I noticed any time I felt like I had pressure. So, a couple times when I had pressure I would check myself to see if I could get up and use the bathroom. 

Student midwife Rose

My midwife Jen checking his heartbeat

The next time I checked myself I was 7cm. I think it was my sister Devyn on Facetime at that point who asked what I was doing. I laughed as I told her I was checking myself. Then I think someone in the room started laughing about how funny/strange/weird it is to have a patient who knows too much about themselves and labor. Some people who do homebirths, and even hospital births with my patients, decline to have vaginal exams, but that really wasn't me, I wanted to know what was going on. So after I checked myself I got up and went to the bathroom. By the time I got back to the bathroom I was feeling sort of nauseated, but never threw up. I also noticed after I got back that I stopped listening to my sisters on Facetime, and really stopped interacting with almost everyone unless it was to have them help me or to ask them to do something for me. 

During this time the girls were sent downstairs to watch TV. I had spent a lot of time preparing them for this birth. We talked a lot about it, we watched videos and I also reassured them a lot that that they didn't have to watch him be born if they were scared or afraid. Both girls said they wanted to be there and Rich told me later that during the last hour or so Cara had come upstairs at least 3 times to see if it was time for Baby Mac to be born yet. If you know my girls and TV you know it is a big deal for them to leave the TV for any reason, so when I started pushing I did have them come up to be there. 

I ended up checking myself one more time and I was 8cm and my water hadn't broken. Around 9:15 or so I started pushing on my own and I started to feel his head come down so I had my parents come back in the room. I also made sure Rich turned on the video camera- since my birth with Ryann we forgot to turn on the camera until she was born, and my birth with Cara got recorded over by her first bath- it was pretty important to me to have that recorded. I haven't watched the video yet, but it was on a tripod, so we will see how well it turned out. Once I get it uploaded to the computer I get to send it to my sister Ashley who wasn't able to be connected to us during the birth. :) And I guess any of my other siblings or in laws who want to see it (Pete???)

Once I started pushing I felt my water break. My midwife and I announced it at the same time. As I kept pushing I realized that he was a lot bigger than Cara. I was expecting maybe an 8lb baby because he felt bigger, but I had gained less weight than with Cara so I just felt that he wasn't a lot bigger, but some. My ultrasound the day before estimated 8lbs 7oz. When he wasn't coming out faster than Cara, as most 3rd babies do, I was starting to wonder just how much bigger he was. I tried pushing in a couple different positions. I pushed a couple times on my hands and knees, then in a more traditional way, and finally I was using my doula and Rich to help lift me and my mom was helping hold up my head to give me more force. 

Turns out his head was a lot bigger than Cara's. He was also coming down with his hand by his face which can also make pushing a lot harder. Once his head was about half way out I was able to look down and see that he had hair. It looked pretty light to me, but then again most of my patients are Hispanic and their babies have lots of black hair. (Turns out his hair is brown for now)

I finally was able to push out his head but his shoulders didn't slip out very easily. My midwife let me rest for a little while but then reminded me that I still needed to push out his shoulders. I wasn't having a contraction, so I didn't really want to push, but then when I did start pushing I didn't really feel like I was doing anything to get him out. 

Homebirth midwives are a lot more hands off than we typically are in the hospital. So part of us were just waiting for my body to do the rest of the work, but then I started to realize that I needed some help to get him out. If babies in the hospital have their heads out but the rest of the baby isn't out then we have a few maneuvers that we use to get the baby out. I knew this, was thinking about this, and requested my midwife to just "pull him out" a few more seconds and I just yelled for my dad. I will have to listen to the video of it, but I really think I just said, "Dad! Help!" 

My Dad isn't one to interfere or intervene without being asked, but as soon as I said that he was telling me what to do, he jumped in the birth tub and had Mac out within a matter of seconds. I know Mac would have come out fine without my dad there, but it was really nice that he was there and was able to intervene, because I was sooo done.

My midwife joked later that it was our secret plan to get my dad to do his very first waterbirth.  :)

Daniel Richard McCrary Hamilton  or "Mac" was born on July 10, 2013 at 9:30pm.

He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 6oz (almost 2 pounds bigger than my last baby)

with a head measuring 14inches and a chest of 14.5 inches. 

21.5 inches long

3 days past his due date. 

He was born at home, a waterbirth, with a midwife in attendance. His daddy was there, grandparents were there, his 2 big sisters, a student midwife, 2 aunties electronically, a doula, and a wonderful friend. It was hard and chaotic and peaceful and amazing and wonderful all at the same time. 

Welcome to the World (part 1)

My parents had come into town back on July 4th and my dad had to leave on Monday night in order to get back for a day of work. He asked me when he thought the baby would be born and I told him not until he got back. He left when I was 40 weeks and 1 day and came back on Wednesday afternoon when I was 40 weeks and 3 days.

It was very important for me to have my dad at my birth. He was there for both Ryann and Cara's birth (my mom was too!) and since I was having this baby at home I really wanted him there.

(Most people who read my blog know that my dad is an OBGYN, but just incase you didn't know, he is... I didn't expect any complications at my birth, but I wanted him there anyway.)

Anyway, he got back to Phoenix around 2pm and then around 3pm I convinced him and my mom to watch the movie, What To Expect When You Are Expecting. It is a silly movie, but I told myself the labor vibes might rub off on me. During that time I bounced on my exercise ball to try and stimulate labor. Towards the end of the movie I started to have a couple contractions. They started to slowly come and they felt a little different which was a good thing. At 5:45 I started to get hopeful and I changed into "labor clothes" that I would feel comfortable in if I went into labor. Now, I had already done this on two other occasions so I didn't say anything because I didn't want to jinx myself.

Then at 630 I started to think that this was really maybe going to be it. I was trying to relax in between contractions but not too much relaxing, because I didn't want them to stop. I then started having to breathe through my contractions. Then at 640 I asked Rich to turn on the "homebirth playlist" on his itunes. This playlist consisted of all piano music, a lot of it which was primary hymns. I even took a picture of the playlist and put it on instagram.

At this time I thought about timing my contractions but the thought of that was annoying and I thought it would be too time consuming. So I didn't. I really had no idea how close they were I just knew that they were starting to command my attention. The only thing I did had time for was to write down the times that things were happening because I wanted to make sure I could remember it all and write my birth story.

At 645 I (or my mom) texted my family to let them know that this might be it. I also had texted my doula and midwife before this so that they could prep their families in order to free themselves up to make it in time for the birth. Also while this was going on my parents, the girls, and Rich were eating dinner downstairs. I didn't really feel like eating corn on the cob and ribs, so I passed on that and hung out upstairs for awhile.

At 725 I wanted to know if there really was anything going on so I checked myself and I was 5 1/2cm dilated. I let my midwife know because she had just been waiting for me to tell her that "this was it" so she could come on over. Rich and my dad were upstairs trying to fill up the birthing tub with water because my plan was to have a waterbirth. There of course was some humor in this becasue Rich decided it would cost too much to buy a brand new hose, so the "faucet extension" he was using was way too short to reach and it was making quite the mess.

My doula came over at 730 and I put her to work immediately. She would push on my back during every contraction and so for the next 20 minutes I was still able to talk and chat in between contractions, even though during the contractions I really had to focus.

At 750 the tub was finally full enough that I could get in it. I jumped in almost immediately and it felt nice to be submerged in the water. 

There were a lot of differences that I was noticing between this birth and Cara's birth. With Cara I had practiced hypnobirthing throughout the pregnancy. I was calm and relaxed and totally focused with Cara. I was really quiet throughout the whole thing. However, I wasn't really "present" with the birth. I didn't know what to do to make my body feel better, I didn't recognize how far along I was or how fast things were progressing with Cara. I really was in a self hypnosis state. It was really neat, really easy, and quick. 

With Mac I was very present throughout the entire thing. I could think in between and even during contractions. I was comparing what I was experiencing now to what I had experienced before and I was even talking about it during the labor. When I first got in the tub I was laughing and joking with my sisters who were both on facetime with us. I was able to tell my doula what things to do to make my contractions feel better. I was aware when I was thirsty and what I wanted to drink. I also was aware of what kind of interventions would make my contractions more tolerable. However, this labor HURT. It was hard and seemed endless even though it was also very fast. I was loud, I moaned, I swayed, I changed positions and I remember myself saying "I can't do this" quite a few times. (even though I knew I could... it is just what sounded right to say.)

After I got in the tub Ryann and Cara made some pictures and cards for me. This was the sweetest thing. The girls were so excited that Baby Mac was coming. Ryann wrote:

Dear Mom, I love you. You gave me a great hug. You gave me a great kiss. I love you where ever we go. I love my baby brother. I love my brother. I hope you feel better soon. I hope baby brother comes soon. I love you. Love Ryann

Past Due Date

 Waiting waiting waiting isn't very fun. Having your due date come and go also isn't very fun. Being 40+ lbs heavier than normal isn't very fun. Having contractions every night before bed while bouncing on an exercise ball that lead to nothing isn't very fun. Swollen feet and hands aren't fun either... okay I am done complaining for now. Except one more thing... My parents are in town and my dad leaves tonight, which is not exciting because I really wanted him to be here for the birth. 

So here are some things I have been doing in my last few days.  I bought a big hat to distract everyone from my big belly... does it help?

 I have also put some of the finishing touches on my "labor space" with my birth affirmations, pregnancy photos, and pictures from the girls. 

I am also spending time imagining myself giving birth in this labor/ birth tub... when the actual event takes place there sure won't be stuffed horses and unicorns, but for now the girls think it is their place to play. 

Labor Blessings

I have been wearing these beads around for the past week. They are from my blessing way. Everyone who came was able to give me a one word "wish" for my birth. Things like Peace, calm, smooth, fast, etc. that was associated with each bead. So I have worn this around to remind me of all the people who are hoping that I have an amazing birth.  

 I also ordered a couple little clay hearts to give to my birth team. They have a special little message on the back of them. The lady who I ordered them from made an extra one for me and that is also sitting in my birth space at home waiting for me. 

This pregnancy has been a lot of fun but I am sure excited to see it come to an end so I can meet our sweet baby boy.

Auntie Devyn

Devyn came in to town for a few days to help with my baby shower, do my hair, and do some nursing clinicals with me. She was so very helpful it was wonderful!

Here she is doing my hair to get ready for the baby shower. I didn't get any pictures, so hopefully Devyn will send me a few and my friend Heidi will get me some more. 

 After the baby shower I was able to get a prenatal massage. It was amazing and wonderful and did I mention free?  Yes, my midwife has all sorts of perks and connections.