My Birthing Story

On Thursday, February 17th at 3:45 in the morning I officially began the exciting process of labor. I knew that I had lots of time, my contractions were about twenty minutes apart, and fairly mild. I let Christian sleep, and allowed myself to really focus on what this day was going to hold for us.

As the morning moved along, my contractions did the same. The distance in time between each one started to diminish and the overwhelming joy that today was going to be the day grew with each minute.

Luckily, I was already scheduled for an baby check-up appointment with my midwife at 2:45. I patiently waited till it was time to go, but I will admit I was extremely curious as to how far along I was dilated. Turns out that I was 4 cm, almost 5, and by this time of day my contractions were averaging 5 minutes apart. I went home, and was met at my house by my in-laws, John and Kathy, and my Doula Laura. We sat in the family room chit-chatting for a few hours, and then at about 5, 5:30 I made the call letting everyone know, "It's time to head to the head to the hospital."

Once we reached the birthing wing at the hospital, we were met by one of my midwives, and she pulled some strings to insure that I was given the corner room with the large jacuzzi tub. At this point I was now 6 cm and having contractions every 4 minutes. The birthing room felt more like a resort room on some tropical island. We were so lucky to get this room. It was great!
I used the birthing ball to help relax and move things along.
When the contractions really started pigging-backing each other, (they call this part of labor transition, and it happens right before the big "pushing" part) I moved into the tub. The warm water really worked wonders at soothing and again relaxing my body in between contractions.
From 6 o'clock to 10 o'clock I dilated a centimeter an hour, and by 10:00 I was ready to have a baby. At exactly 11:30 p.m. Grace Irene was born, and looked absolutely perfect!! She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces, was 19.5 inches long, and honestly was the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen. (Although I'm sure I'm extremely biased)
Her first hair shampoo. She loves being pampered!

Such a sweet sleepy baby! So cute!
From day one she adored her father! Its unbelievable, but when she gets a little fussy, Christian picks her up and within two seconds she's perfectly content. Daddy's little girl!
Look at the face! She was so excited to head home from the hospital!
Thanks Aunt Emily and Uncle Luke for her going-home outfit. The sweater was perfect as it was extremely cold and kept her nice and toasty warm.
Grandma Kaufman made Grace her baby blanket that she came home from the hospital in. So soft and warm!
We're so thrilled that she's finally here, and every day has become such a joy. She's our little miracle, and I love that we are now a true family!

Birds of a feather

This winter season we've had several neighborhood visitors that are very large, and a little bit on the creepy side. I'm talking about vultures! They've been hanging around the houses and trees and really seem to enjoy the heat that is piped up through the chimneys as they perch their giant feathered body across the roof tops.While sitting in my family room, I can always tell when a giant vulture is resting on the top of the chimney because well, they're not exactly graceful birds, and I hear them trying to balance themselves on the chimney cap. (Below you can see one vulture sitting next to the cap, and the feathers of another vulture who is actually sitting on the cap to the chimney.)Here's a vulture just hanging out in the back yard. I'm telling you, these birds are impressively big!

Like a scary gang, here are five vultures just hanging out on the ridge pole of the neighbor's house directly across the street. I wouldn't want to mess with this posse.See what I mean. Creepy!

This vulture is sitting on the chimney cap, and warming his feathers. I bet he was nice a toasty up there!Oh no! I've been spotted! (I still think they're creepy!) RUN AWAY!!! AHHHH!