In parts one and two, I shared how London Everleigh arrived via planned homebirth with a midwife.

It’s an amazing story (to me) of waiting on God, learning to trust Him more and more and having the courage to bring her into this world the way I had planned and get to experience it. Although I know that’s not always the case even if you had planned a homebirth, like my friend Sarah, but not matter what, a baby’s birth is a miraculous thing. 

In honor of London’s 1st Birthday, here’s the rest of the story…

Part three is all about the rest the day and week she arrived. 

I was laying in bed, undressed with a towel to cover me, still in awe that our baby was here and I birthed her at home, I just couldn’t believe it.

I just held her and just looked at her. So perfect. 

Shortly after I birthed the placenta, which I think was a piece of cake compared to birthing London.

Lisa, my midwife opened a bottle of organic pineapple juice that was in my birth-kit and told me to drink up. 

My mom arrived a few minutes later. She couldn’t believe she missed everything. She told us that when she got back she just dilly dallied around down stairs because it seemed quiet, so she decided to come upstairs, and lo and behold, the baby was born. 

The midwife began cleaning up some of the mess while I just held her. I had her latch to start nursing, which only lasted for a few moments. Oh so precious moments. 

My husband wasn’t in the room, being the busybody he is, decided it was a good time to sweep the leaves off of the roof, the only way I knew was because I could hear him. Earlier I had asked someone to open the window while I was laboring in the bed.

In retrospect I am now thinking, I wonder what our neighbor must have thought if he heard me when I was pushing the baby out.

Lisa, my mom & I just adored London. My mom had my camera I had purchased a few days earlier taking some snapshots. Lisa did some routine newborn checks. And kept reminding me to keep drinking the juice. By law she had to ask me if I wanted to vitamin k shot which we declined.

My husband arrived back into the room, it was time to cut the cord. We delayed cutting the cord until it completely stopped pulsing, you can read some benefits of that here. 

It was time to weigh her, she weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz. She was the biggest baby of our three. 

Lisa instructed my mom to make me some eggs and toast. She brought it up to me, I ate it up quickly, giving birth is hard work.

I nursed London again, then Lisa helped me to the shower where I cleaned up. After, everyone left the room so I could just rest in bed. I couldn’t nap since I was so excited, so I just rested my body. I just starred at her for a long while. My midwife came a checked on me again, then left to be back the next morning. 

My mom decided it would be fun to go get some cupcakes for the kids with strawberry filling, for an “it’s a girl” reveal before she went to pick them up from school a little early. 

Still up stairs, I heard them arrive. They came up the stairs with their Dad and Mamaw and I got my phone ready to capture the moment, here is what happened:

Watch the video here. 

They were soooo excited. After, we all went downstairs to watch Lincoln and Julia bite into the cupcakes. She’s a GIRL!!!

It was time for Big Brother & Big Sister to hold sweet baby London. 

I ate some leftover food from the previous night’s crockpot dinner then went upstairs with London to nurse her and take a real nap. I was able to nap for a couple of hours. 

I went back downstairs and enjoyed the evening with the family. My husband ordered take-out from one of my favorite steakhouse’s, their Mac-n-cheese is to die for.

After the kids went to bed, my husband made a fire. Then he held London and adjusted her for the first time. Daddy is a wellness chiropractor. We all just continued to admire and be thankful for London and rest on the couch and before we knew it, it was time to head to bed. 

Later that week we enjoyed wonderful meals from friends, sweet gifts from patients and time as a family of 5. London got her newborn pictures, her first visit to our office and got over jaundice via the sunlight. 

I cannot believe she is ONE today!!! 

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! 

The post The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Three} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

Related posts:

The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Two} The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part One} Preparing for a Homebirth {My Supply List}

I know, I know, I am very “fashionably late” with the 2nd part of London’s birth story. But better late then never right?? London is only 8 months as of today If you haven’t read part 1 yet, click on over to read the first part. 

Now back to the birth story: 

A little bit before my “Yes come!” text to my midwife that I told you about in part one of this story was when I realized this baby IS coming today, I could not wait to meet him or her. We never found out the gender because we had decided to be surprised at birth.

I had been thinking about all the details in-between the contractions, not birth details per-se but about the kids and how they should be leaving with my mom and where they should go since it wasn’t quite time to bring them to their homeschool co-op yet. I planned all the details: go wake up mom at 7:15am, they can get ready, get their stuff and she can bring them to Panera, a local bakery/eatery first then to school.

So 7:15 seemed to come hurriedly. It took all I had to walk to my daughter’s room where my mom had been sleeping. I got there, bent over and told her I think today is the day, get up and go! She tried to ask me a few questions and I remember just saying something like “I don’t know, I need to go lay down, come in here if you need me” while hurrying back to my bed.

I think it was around 20 minutes later they came inside the room to say goodbye. By then I was moaning loudly, I thought but when they came in I tried to be quiet. I remember thinking… I love you now get out (I wasn’t wanting to be mean, I just didn’t know if I could handle talking) 

Right after they left, my husband and I discussed if we should start a bath. I had never had a homebirth before so I didn’t know the timeline of procedures I thought maybe were supposed to happen. All I knew was that this was intense, wondering how long I’d be enduring this pain. I said, yes, go ahead and start the bath, thinking it might help. 

While still laying in my bed, I felt something wet come out, I thought my had broke so I told my husband while waddling over to the toilet. I wiped and saw the bloody show a woman normally gets before labor. I then got into the bathtub. We have a pretty large tub so the water was only a few inches full. Before all of this happened I’d pictured myself sitting in the tub with my back against a cushion I had purchased, but no, that’s not at all how it played out. I was on my knees, bent over, clinging tightly to the water faucet. 

Sometime while in the bathtub the midwife arrived. We didn’t know it at the time, but she had been knocking for 10 minutes outside before my husband let her in, we never heard her in all the commotion. 

Upon arriving, just from seeing me in whatever stage of labor I was in, she knew it was game-time. While I was trying not to freak out, hold my cool, go through natural birth- whatever you’d like to call it, my midwife and husband got prepared as much as they could. 

She checked me and said I was 8cm and that the water sack was right there, and said if she broke it, it would help, I said ok.  The same thing had to happen with my other 2 so I knew it was the best idea.  I think pretty much after that I must have fully dilated fully within 1-2 minutes. 

I’d like to say that Lisa, my midwife was an extremely awesome coach. When I was groaning in the tub, she was saying “sing your song” which helped me to realized that it was ok to be vocal (or scream).  Right away,  I felt the urge to push so I did. After doing this a few times, I had emptied my bowels. I know, gross right? 

Lisa told me I have 2 choices since it would not be healthy for the baby to be birthed into the icky water: 1) get out of the tub and go to the bed (which was not prepared with all of the stuff I had prepared for my birth kit) or 2) stand up. In my mind, there was no way I was walking to the bed with baby about to come out. 

So I stood. And pushed.  And not sure how many times but I thought I was going to die at some point. I really thought this was going to kill me. For real. Then I think my husband said the head is right there. Lisa told me to stop pushing for a second- don’t remember why. And then once she told me to push again, I did and the baby came out. She quickly grabbed her and handed her up to me. And I could barely hold her. I was thinking and might have said, is it a boy or girl. I believe they answered but it all the excitement I didn’t hear them. 

Lisa helped me walk to the bed where I caught my breathe and energy. I looked at the baby in awe and asked again, boy or girl.

She’s a girl!!!! 

I soaked everything up. Shortly after my mom arrived and found out she missed all the action. 

Next is part three… which has all the postpartum stuff and fun pictures! (here is part 1 if you missed it)

The post The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Two} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

Related posts:

The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part One} The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Three} Preparing for a Homebirth {My Supply List}

A woman will never forget the moment she became a mother, for me that moment was 6, almost 7 years ago. I can hardly believe I am saying that, I have an almost 7 year old, what?

Then a short 9 months later after my son was born I became pregnant with our daughter Julia and she was born 9 months later to the day.  They both share the 29th of the month’s they we born- they’re exactly 18 months apart.

At that time my husband & I were both graduating with degrees. I graduated with my bachelors 2 weeks before Julia was born and he graduated with his doctorate when she was about 3 months old. The next few years were spent raising 2 kiddos very close in age, going to playdates, MOPS, doing preschool activities, with tons of tears and laughter.

Then we opened up our wellness office after waiting on God to give us the right opportunity. I worked in the office for the first year, with kids in tow! We experienced pregnancy losses during that time and my heart was broken. Although it was a hard season, it was all part of the motherhood journey God planned for me! 

I had a deep desire to have more children and yet it didn’t seem like having more biological children was in the Lord’s plan’s for us, so I decided to consider adoption. And it wasn’t until then, that I was able to lay down my desires, that I became pregnant once again.

I struggled with trusting God that this baby would be healthy or that I would even carry the baby to term especially in the beginning of pregnancy, but I did, I carried the baby to 40 week and 3 days. We planned to birth at home with a midwife, I had everything prepared and was READY to meet this baby we had prayed for!

The Sunday before baby London was born

So now I’d like to share with you London Everleigh’s birth story.

Part 1:

On a very late Tuesday night when I was 2 days past my “due date” I was anxious and ready to meet our baby but not enough to try any natural inducing remedies like castor oil, quite yet. However, a friend did tell me that “what got the baby in, helps get the baby out” so we decided to try that which (I believe) kick-started my labor.

A little while later at around 1:00am when I was in bed watching home-birth videos on YouTube (I liked this one), I felt a contraction, I thought “hum, I think something is happening.” I decided to go to bed just in case so I could get some rest. I felt a couple more before I fell asleep.

I woke up a couple of hours later and felt regular contractions so I decided to download a contraction tracker app. I went downstairs to grab a snack for some energy I might need later. I got some turkey, cheese and crackers and a large glass of ice cold water. I brought my food to bed and told my husband that I was having some contractions and eating a snack, which he doesn’t remember me telling him.

I ate my snack then laid down. It was around 3:30-4 in the morning and there was no going back to sleep. I kept tabs on my contractions for a while, they seemed to keep coming so I opened the iPhone app. And although they weren’t “bad” enough for me to realize this was true labor, I did need to take a few deep breaths when I was having a contraction. There were none of the obvious signs of labor, like losing the plug or water breaking, which those things never happened with my other two either so I was still wondering if this was me going into labor or just really intense braxton hicks.

I texted my midwife Lisa “No show or water broke but *think* something might be happening. Drinking some water and had a snack. Been timing contractions for about an hour. No sure if they are real or prodromal (false labor)” at 4:57am.

I also text’d this picture but she was unable to receive it so I sent her all the details going on, where I was feeling something, what it was feeling like, how long and in-between. In short, strong movement/tightness in between contractions and intense contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart lasting for about 30-40 seconds. That had been happening for an hour, not getting closer together but consistently.

At 5:56am after she told me to try to get some sleep, I told her I couldn’t rest, she asked me if I wanted her to come to check me. Here’s the conversation:

I didn’t reply around the time when she asked if I wanted her to come because the contractions had gotten very intense. Instead of just breathing through them, I was whimpering and moaning. Trying not to be too loud as my kids and mom were sleeping in a near by room. My husband and I had previously decided we didn’t want the kids in the home during the birth.

My “Yes come!” text was really…. YES, COME! Hurry, hurry, hurry, I think this baby is coming soon!

Next is part two… here!

The post The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part One} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

Related posts:

The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Two} The Most Precious Valentine’s Day Gift {A Natural Birth Story} The Marathon {Hallelujah’s Birth Story}

Alrighty folks, I’m 39 weeks pregnant…and counting! It’s still unbelievable to me that after our losses the Lord has blessed us and we’ll soon meet this little girl or guy!!

Many of my “in-real-life” friends have told me how brave they think I am for having a homebirth, but can I let you in on a little secret… I am nervous, not about something going wrong but about the pain of childbirth. It’s been over 5 years since my daughter Julia was born so I can’t remember everything… but I’m going to put my “brave” face on and get ready for this!

If you’re having a homebirth there are a lot of supplies you should have on hand. Your midwife will give you a supply list you’ll need for the delivery day, a lot of the items you’ll already have around the house. Most likely she’ll have you purchase a birth kit which has all of the medically necessary tools needed as well as a list of supplies need to make the day go smoother, some required and some suggested.

According to my midwife, you should have all of your supplies ready at 36 weeks. Ahem… I just finished mine last week, I would not recommend waiting. You never know when you’ll go into labor so preparation is key! (speaking to myself here…ha!!!)

Here’s My Homebirth Supply List:

Labor & Birth:

• birth kit-medically necessary tools (still wondering what the straws are for lol)
• birth supply area- place where all your supplies are stored and ready for the BIG day, you should tell your midwife where your supply area is located before birth (ours are inside of the crib)
• plastic mattress cover or shower curtain
• music- create a playlist of songs you like, that encourage you
• encouraging scripture notecards or affirmations
• 4-6 large towels
• 3 washcloths
• 2 sets of sheets- one for during birth, if needed and one clean, fresh set for after
• gown to birth in (or sports bra or whatever you are comfortable with)
• flashlight with extra batteries- in case of a power outage
• 2 rolls of paper towels
• several trash bags
• 2 bottles of hydrogen peroxide
• juice, natural sports drink or coconut water
• 1 small bottle of oil- to help with perineal massage
• birth tub and cover- we are lucky to have a nice spacious tub in our home but if you would like to have a water birth, here’s some more info on what you’ll need

• emergency hospital bag- just in case, you never know and want to be fully prepared
• child care with kids bags ready- some people are comfortable with their children at the birth, however, we personally are not. I have a friend who is willing to come get out kids if I go into labor before my Mom gets here, and she still might come get them so my Mom can be present at the birth. We plan on them leaving for the day or even night if it takes that long.
• *birth ball or exercise ball- I do not have one of these but will use a wobble disc if I want/need to
• ice pack for cooling

Postpartum:

• after birth pj’s or robe
• peri bottle- which comes in the birth kit
• homemade relief pads, I plan on making some similar to these
• extra pads/adult diapers
• nursing bras/pads
• mother’s milk tea
• postpartum bath herbs
• new mama bottom spray (luckily the last 3 items were given to me from wonderful friends at a baby shower, Earth Mama Angel Baby have some awesome natural, organic products!)
• nipple cream
• heating pad

For baby:

• 6 receiving blankets
• baby gown(s)-I have one for a boy and girl since it’s a surprise
• baby cap(s)
• socks or booties
• 2 blankets
• newborn diapers (or cloth diapers)
• free and clear baby wipes
• carseat
• *optional- I got 2 different kinds of bpa-free pacifiers, just in case, my other 2 never took to one
• mittens- to help prevent scratching

Extras:

Where did you birth? If you had a homebirth, are there any other supplies you had? Or if planning one, any other suggestions?

The post Preparing for a Homebirth {My Supply List} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

Related posts:

The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Two} The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part One} The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part Three}