And then she was born.

And then she was born.

Liddi and I hung out in the pool long enough for the cord to stop pulsing. Then James got his first daddy-daughter moments while I took a much-deserved shower. Apparently, she cried the whole time I was gone. Real tears even, how sad.A96W5264 A96W5269 Jess came over twice near the end of my pregnancy to Jamberrify my unreachable toes. As our due date was so close to Valentine’s Day, she offered me these adorable nails. I accepted on the condition that she make sure she get a photo of these toes in the birthing pool. Since none of us expected my labor to progress so quickly after its pokey start, Jess arrived about 15 minutes before Liddi was born and I was in no condition to be posing my toes. This was the best we could do afterwards. A96W5272

We invited Anna down 30 minutes after Liddi was born. She was shocked, because she was certain she had just fallen asleep!

Anne had set up the sofa sleeper for us. Since our only bathroom is on the main floor, we slept downstairs the first several nights. Well. Sleep indicates closed eyes and light, rhythmic breathing, waking up refreshed afterwards. I was far too excited and too in love to sleep. Like the night I decided I wanted to marry James. It was way better than Christmas, just laying there knowing this was the man I hoped to spend the rest of my life with. And this night, how my daughter had come into my hands and now rested peacefully on my chest, completely trusting me even though she’s only ever heard my voice. How could I possibly sleep through those emotions?! So how’s about I say we laid on the sofa sleeper for the first several nights?A96W5282

We brought the kids down to meet their newest sister at midnight. These were their faces. Corban’s exact words: “*pause* I want to go to sleep.” Jaeda may not have even opened her eyes. I’m not sure what we were expecting. They redeemed themselves the next morning with their enthusiasm.A96W5287-1 A96W5289-1

After Liddi nursed like a champ, Shannon did the newborn evaluation. She weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long.A96W5294 A96W5297 A96W5298 A96W5299 A96W5300 A96W5303-1 A96W5304

Before birth, I was planning on doing an herbal bath with Liddi as her first bath. But let’s be honest, I had just been in a pool for the last two hours and really wasn’t interested doing anything with water beyond drinking it. So a sink bath it was! (I personally wanted her to have a bath specifically to wash off her hair, the one downfall of being born with such an asset.)
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Then Dad got a little more time with the babe before he was whisked away to help with…the basement flood. Oh guys. I didn’t know the half of it until the next day. Apparently our hot water heater has a safety mechanism (sorry if I butcher this explanation) so that if too much pressure builds up in copper piping, it is set to flush the tank of all the hot water. This flushing started sometime near the end of labor, but Anne who discovered the tragedy wisely chose not to enlightened James until sometime after baby was born. James and Anne spent the first few hours of February 16th running up and down the stairs, emptying the wet vac, on the phone with Anne’s James, trying to figure out how to make it stop! This was while Jess and I chatted casually on the couch, me occasionally exclaiming, “I can’t believe it; I can’t believe I just had a baby!” and apparently not at all concerned about the basement fiasco. As they tried to pull water out of the tank and into the drains, they turned on the faucets on the main floor. One of the sinks somehow got the plug pushed down accidentally, and James, working frantically downstairs, started to get rained on from the ceiling. My version of the ending is, “All’s well that ends well,” but BOY, did they work HARD to get that happy ending.A96W5315 A96W5318 A96W5319-1 A96W5320 A96W5321

So. The million dollar question: Would you do it again? James and I have talked at length about our experience, and providing that we could avoid the hot water heater disaster, we would definitely do it again. It was so personal and intimate (which, of course, is where James chimes in to say that it’s not those things anymore since I’ve blogged every detail!), but still in those moments, it was. Only people we loved and trusted were present–no strangers or doctors we’d only conversed with twice. And getting to decorate the birthing space, I felt comfortable in my own stylizing and was spurred on by all the surrounding Scripture. James and I were able to position the pool so that it was ideal spot for all of us and could talk through what we were anticipating would happen, etc. It was low stress and high encouragement. Now that I’ve done it and am officially deemed crazy hippie, I will talk about it with anyone who’s interested! Guys, we went from hospital setting with epidural to home water birth. You can do it! Seriously, if you wanna talk more deets, come over. I’ll even provide the coffee/cocoa/tea/mate. And, if you don’t wait too long, a cute little bundle to hold.

Praise the Lord, she’s here!

 

3 Comments
  • The basement’s back!
    Posted at 21:31h, 18 April Reply

    […] walls, found it flooding again due to a sewer back up (twice in three days!), and discovered our water heater flushing itself during Liddi’s birth. Let’s just say it’s been a ride. But the ride hasn’t […]

  • Alisha Miller
    Posted at 23:56h, 03 March Reply

    First, I love how you blog because you write how you talk and I can totally hear your voice.
    Second, I laughed when you explained why you did a bath… you are DEFINITELY part of the crazy hippie natural birth world now because you thought you had to explain why you decided to do that. With your next baby, I hope you’ll step it up to the next level of hippie and wait until your child is old enough to decide if they want to be a bather or not.

    • theredheads
      Posted at 07:49h, 04 March Reply

      HA! I’d really hate to push my own bathing preferences on someone else;);) Actually, I didn’t know that that was a thing, so *phew* I just stepped down one hippie notch.