Thursday, June 26, 2008

Happy Birthday Kainan: Homebirth Story


 Happy 13th Birthday Kainan

13 years ago, I was waiting for this child to GET OUT OF ME. I was hot, tired and tired of being pregnant. Yeah, happy stuff:)

Honestly, though, I had this weird issue with my hands falling asleep every time I would lie down. It would get so bad that I would wake up with that painful tingly feeling all the way up to my elbows. I'd groan in my sleep and my first time dad husband would wake up in a panic. He was like the typical movie dad, he'd jump up out of a dead sleep and be fur-eaking out, "What? What's wrong? Is it time? Is it time? Where's the phone?" By the time I woke up enough to figure out what he was on about, he'd be ready for this kid to pop out at any moment.

After going through false labor and being dilated to 5 cm for TWO WEEKS, my water finally broke at 2:45 in the afternoon... right before I was supposed to wake my hubby up for work. He worked nights and most certainly did not like waking up. I woke him by saying, "Honey, you need to get up now and call work to tell them you won't be in today." Five minutes later I woke him again the same way... and five minutes later yet again. It finally got through his sleepy fog. He bounded out of bed, got dressed in record time then asked if I'd called the midwife yet.

Having been fairly adamant at the beginning that we would NOT have a home birth, (mainly because I'd suffered a pretty severe miscarraige a year earlier, he was not all gung ho on natural anything) he was a nervous wreck.*

I told Sprite, then called my mom who was working across the street at her shop. The woman who we had arranged to be with Sprite during the labor just happened to have stopped by to visit mom, so they both came right over. Sprite was 3 1/2 and SO excited. I let her lay down newspapers for her "job" because I could think of anything else to have her do. My hubby was still a nervous wreck, so I gave him the job of putting the plastic and sterile sheets on the bed to give his brain something to do other than worry.

Mom got there and asked, "Have you called the midwife yet?"

"no, I was getting to it,"

"WHAT? You haven't called yet? You know how we do this, its fast! Call her now!!"

"Well, I didn't think it was that important, I haven't even started having contractions yet."

"I don't care, call her now."

So I did. She was at a dance recital or some sort of show her kids were in, I really didn't pay that much attention, because at that point I thought I might be having a contraction... no, that wasn't it. I told the midwife she could stay and finish the show that was almost over and then come over. My mom wigged out a bit. "Doesn't she know how we do these things? You'll already HAVE the baby by the time she gets here! She lives 30 minutes away!! Does she need to go home first?"

Thankfully my brother chose that moment to pop in and say hi... for all of five seconds. As soon as he found out that I was in labor, he bolted. Seriously bolted. It was like thsoe cartoons where there was a cutout of my brother in the door. It was pretty funny:)

At 3:15 I started feeling contractions. They were still fairly far apart for me, like 6-8 minutes, so I still wasn't feeling anxious. My mom was, though, so I called the midwife and asked her to hustle her butt over (no, I didn't say it like that). by 3:45 I was having them much closer together, but I still could barely tell they were contractions. They were nowhere near as painful as pms-cramps, and nowhere near the level they had been with Sprite.

The midwife arrived around 4:05, and a few minutes later, she checked me and said, "okay, you can push now..."

And I said, "But it doesn't hurt enough yet."

That was apparently a first for her, because she started laughing at me.

Kainan was born at 4:15.

I hadn't wanted to ever have any boys. I was scared of trying to raise boys. I knew nothing about boys. But this child stole my heart from the first moment. I never wanted to put him down. I didn't even like to let my husband hold him. Just about the only time that my hubby got to hold him was if I had to run to the bathroom or have a superquick shwoer. No one outside of our family got to hold him for a wvery long time. My extended family thought I was nuts (again) for this, but I didn't care.

Out of all the kids, he most reminds me of my husband. Personality wise, he is just so similar. I can't wait to see the man he is going to become:) He is going to be such a fantastic husband and father when he grows up. I am so proud of him.