Have you had a waterbirth?

Go add your story or just post that you've had one. HERE's the form to fill out.

Waterbirth International needs you to register your baby on their "I Was Born in Water" list on their website if you had a waterbirth. They have over 4000 baby names listed and their goal is 10,000 by 2010. They are in line for an NIH grant to do follow-up research for these babies and their mother's experiences of waterbirth. Not only will you get to be on a very cool list, but you will be helping to prove that waterbirth is a safe and wonderful way to enter the world!

Bella's Birth Day pics

Well since I haven't really been out of the house or done anything besides nurse, eat and sleep, I don't have much to blog about. So instead, I'll show you just a couple of pics from Bella's birth day. If you are at all squeamish, you may want to skip the first picture which shows the knot in her cord. I just think it's really neat how they can tie their cord up in utero. Here's a fact- true cord knots only occur in approx. 1% of pregnancies. Many times it's because the cord is longer than usual. I can say in my case, the cord was pretty darn long!


And here is a pic of a waterbirth tub. I've seen shows where moms are using baby pools and such, but I'm not sure how they heat the water in those. This has a heater to bring the water up to a comfortable 100 degrees so the baby doesn't get chilled. I added this later to my post on her birth story, but as I was pushing, they had to add hot water to the tub since it happened so fast and the tub hadn't heated up enough yet. It looks like hard plastic but it's actually firm foam like material.

Eventually I'll show you pics of the rest of the night but they are really wonky colored since they were taken without a flash so I'll have to wait to get them fixed up first. Hopefully I'll have some different blog fodder soon!

A Few More Details

I forgot. I did tear even after being in the water for an hour. I tore right along my last tear but it's minor only req. a few stitches. I dreaded getting stitches but with a couple of shots of Lidacaine it wasn't so bad.

Even though she arrived on her due date. she appears to be a week late. I guess there are several signs like peeling skin, creases in the ears and where certain creases on the feet start and stop. Plus my placenta was looking "old". It wouldn't surprise me I guess. Both boys were late too.

We left the BC around 6:30 this morning. It's nice to relax in your own space after giving birth. We walked in the house and Logan was just getting up about 5min later. He was full of smiles when he saw Bella. He's visited her a couple of times today but other than that, he's been blase about it. Ian, OTOH, has been all over her. He wants to "pet" her and keeps saying she's so cute. He wants to know why she's crying and says Poor Babe. LOL It's a role reversal for sure. I expected Ian to be more jealous. We'll see how it all changes in the next few days.

She has her first pediatrician appt in the morning. I was talking to the office and when I said she was born this morning, the girl was incredulous. She couldn't believe it and was asking all kinds of questions once she found out I went to a birth center and had a waterbirth. Most people only have seen it on TV. I'm sure I was the talk of the office this afternoon.

Baby Bella is here

She was born at 2:58am on 3/25. She's 8lbs 2oz and 21.5in long. Apgars were 4 and 9.

We got home around 7:30am this morning so between nursing and attempting to nap, I haven't been on the PC.

I went to bed around 11pm but was up with surges for the entire hour I tried to sleep. Around 12/12:30 I was feeling like I just couldn't do it anymore. I kinda figured it was transition but wasn't sure. Surges were really close together at 3-4min. Around 1am we left for the birth center and when I got there I was at 5cm and 80% so I was able to stay. Yea!! I knew if I hadn't stayed, I probably would have ended up at the hospital again. Melissa (MW) allowed me to go ahead and get in the tub. Surges were still coming fast and furious. I wasn't able to get very comfy in the tub. The minute I sat down, I was right back up on my knees hanging onto the edge trying to get thru it. Less than an hour later, I was feeling really pushy and bearing down. They must have been intense bc the girls came quickly. They added hot water to the tub as it hadn't warmed up to the 100 degrees it needed to be at and dimmed the lights. I kept saying I needed to poop but it was really Bella starting to crown! That was fast! I really didn't think I could do it anymore at that point. It was so intense. Once her head popped out, I had a moment of relief but then came her shoulders. She apparently whooshed right on out. She did have to get some help pinking up. Why must all my babies need help? She also had a knot in her cord. She is a healthy newborn though and is nursing like a champ. She's always wanting to nurse too- makes it really difficult to take a nap. I think she's gonna be a binkie baby for sure. Jen and Julie got to the birth center about 10-15min after she was born so we didn't get any pics of the actual labor but they took TONS of other photos. I'll post some soon!

It's taken me forever to just get this posted so bear with me. I'll be back.