Christopher David's Birth Story

30 Minutes Old

After my quick and uncomplicated birth experience with Samantha, I decided to look into a home birth for baby # 2.  We really lucked out and ended up moving to a house only 20 minutes away from the only home birth midwife in the area.

My whole pregnancy had gone smoothly, except for the pesky little issue of Pat's deployment.  Luckily, my mom was able to drive out to stay with me about two weeks before Christopher's due date.  Sammy arrived three days before her due date, so I assumed Chris would be a little early too. 

At about 1:30 in the morning on 9/25, I woke up with some mild cramping.  It came and went a few times, so I decided I should probably time them.  They were not very painful and only lasted about a minute each, but they were coming regularly and were only about 5 minutes apart.  I called the midwife, who advised me to drink some water, lay down on my left side, and try to go back to sleep.  I was supposed to call her back in half an hour if I couldn't sleep.  I e-mailed Pat to let him know what was going on, and then tried to rest.

By the time 30 minutes had passed, my contractins were a lot more intense, and I was convinced that we were having a baby soon.  I called the midwife and told her to head over and then woke my mom up.  My mom called my in-laws who were going to come over to watch Sammy.  By 3:30, I was in my room dealing with pretty serious contractions, and Sammy had woken up.  My mom took her downstairs to watch a movie, and I was just waiting on the midwife.

I think there were only 2 or 3 contractions after the midwife arrived before I felt ready to push.  Apparently, I only pushed for about 15 minutes, but it felt like longer than that.  My water finally broke, and 2 contractions later Christopher was born at 4:02 am.  The birth assistnt and my in-laws hadn't even gotten to the house yet.  He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long.  He was born with a full head of dark hair, just like his sister.

We let Sammy come upstairs to meet her baby brother, and then Chris and I got all cleaned up and settled into bed.  He latched on right away and has been nursing like a champ ever since.  Overall, it was an amazing birth experince.  If Pat had been able to be there, it would have been just about perfect.

Cleaned up and sleeping soundly