Today is Genevieve aka Raccoon’s 7th birthday! It’s amazing how fast these past 7 years have flown by. Today I would like to share with you her birth story, which happens to have been our first homebirth baby.
Genevieve made her way into the world on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 10:31 PM. I woke up early the morning of February 15th, just two days shy of my due date, feeling some contractions. They were somewhat regular, being 5 – 15 minutes apart. They felt a little more intense than the normal braxton hicks so I got very hopeful and notified my midwives to give them a heads up in case labor progressed. I tried walking, nesting, and sleeping but by 6 PM that evening they spaced further apart and were no more than a slight cramp. I was so depressed convinced that today is not the day. I felt so embarrassed, calling everyone to tell them “Sorry, the contractions went away. Nothing is happening tonight.”. Then at 7:45 PM I had a pretty good strong contraction. I was so excited! The contractions immediately came every 5 minutes apart, strong and steady. At first, Brian and I decided that we weren’t going to call our midwife for another 30 minutes just to make sure things stayed steady. After only a few more contractions being every 5 minutes they went straight to every 3 minutes and stronger! I tried to nurse Bradley to sleep, but the contractions were too strong for me to bare nursing at the time. At 8:15 Brian called the midwife to come on over, along with my mom and sister, Jamie. Poor Brian was running around trying to get the parking situated, pool set up, and deal with Bradley before my mom could and start helping out. Thankfully, Jamie brought her two girls to help distract Bradley. By the time my birth assistant showed up, contractions were coming on pretty strong every 2-3 minutes apart. In the midst of Brian handling other things, we ran out of hot water! The pool had gotten cold and we had to start boiling water to get it hot enough for me to get in. Oh was it a sight, seeing Brian and my mom boiling water, running back and forth from upstairs to the kitchen! When our midwife got there at about 9:15 (give or take) I was already 5cm. This was a huge relief for me since my birth with Bradley was a long 28hr labor of very slow progression. After about 30 more minutes, I was rechecked and now 7cm. They were able to get the pool temperature just right for me to finally get in a little after 10 PM. I only labored in the pool for about 15 minutes when my water broke and she just popped out into my arms!
We were all very surprised to see how chubby she was! She weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 20inches long. Never did I think I would ever have an 8# baby. She was (and still is of course) just so gorgeous and still our biggest baby we have had.
Happy Birthday my love!
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