Just about a year ago...

I gave birth to a beautiful human being... at home!

I can only describe the joy I felt just about a year ago when my son was born. I have always dreamt about having a boy - I had his name picked out since I learned that I was pregnant the first time, but obviously, she was a girl. Then of course, my second was also a girl so I gave up the idea of having a boy since I was not really planning on having anymore kids. We were really happy to have a nice family of four. My girls made me feel complete, they are my special pride!

Then I got pregnant again... with a boy!
I never imagined that I was going to birth at home, it was pretty bizarre to hear that many women were giving birth in their homes -- with a midwife! And you know what? I will never trade it for anything in the world!

What was I thinking before? Why didn't I try this with my girls? I was alive throughout my labor and delivery. I was able to experience a real birth without pain medications, without feeling numb! I did it - and I am so proud to tell it to the world... That I feel empowered by this amazing experience - to have given birth naturally to my precious boy! :-)

Where did the time go?

Robert Carlos is born... @ home!!!!!

August 4th. at 5:35 am. I lost a big chunk of my mucous plug and started filling up the pool at 5:50 am. Our midwife arrived at 6:50 and performed a prenatal check up. I was only dilated 3 cm. (one more from where I started). She left and advised to keep on with my daily routine. I decided to go into the pool to ease some of the discomfort, then went back to bed at 9:30 am, woke up to find more bloody strips in the toilet. Drank some red raspberry leaf tea and napped for an hour. Got up to fix some breakfast for myself and decided to go to the chiropractic to get an adjustment and pick up my weekly organic produce from my coop. At 2 pm came back home, took a shower after a short nap (5:13 pm), ate some turkey soup my mom made for labor and birth, watched a little TV while contractions getting stronger (8 pm)...

I decided to jump into the pool at 9:30 am, by midnight the contractions were getting 3 mins. apart and we decided to call Adriana (our midwife). By 3:30 am, Adriana checked my cervix and I was only 6-7 cm. dilated! I was suffering! Tired and dosing off between contractions so I asked her to be transferred to the bed so I can rest between each contraction. An hour later I told Adriana that I really needed to push, at this point I was screaming with the top of my lungs and moaning like never before, calling God and all the Angels on Earth and Heavens!!!!!!!!! She told me to go ahead and do what I wanted to do, so I pushed and the bag of waters exploded! I felt a mild relief since it was putting so much pressure in my crotch, I started to push even more because that's all I felt doing! I waited for another contraction and decided to leave it alone and thought that probably my uterus will push the baby on it's own but then realized that I really wanted to push again in the next one, just to get it over with!!!!! So I pushed, and pushed (I yelled many times: IT'S BURNING!!!!!) and pushed 3 more times and Roberto Carlos was born!!!!!! (5 am)

He came out SLEEPING!!!!!! He was such a lazy beautiful boy... I delivered my placenta half an hour later... As soon as the mw cleaned him up, we put him at the breast and he breastfed for so long that I wasn't even able to time it, but he did each breast twice - back and forth! He is a little piggy!

I thought I was going to pass out or give up, it hurt yes, but it was SO WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weight: 8.5 lbs.
Height: 22 inch. long
Apgar Score: 10/10
Time: 5 am @ Home!!!!!!!

My birth pool is ready :)

This pool is soooo beautiful!!! I am so in love with it and I can't hardly wait to give birth in it. The area is all set up and supplies are ready for the big event! Today I have been doing some more nesting around the house and I just came back from a big walk to help things going. My contractions are pretty irregular but they are sometimes a bit painful so I know they are doing something. I do feel the baby's head lower than before though. Yesterday I went to the chiropractic to get my hips adjusted and I think that helped me a lot! :) I have stocked up with loads of fruits for labor and also 3 yummy thai young coconuts to help me with hydration. Oh and tomorrow I have a visitor from FPL (Electric Company) at 8 am. so I am hoping not to be in labor while this guy gets here LOL! Last bill was just about $300! and I almost passed out so I am having someone walking through the apartment to make sure everything is running the way it is supposed to which I know for sure there is something wrong, there is NO way we are consuming $300 in electric!

39 weeks and still preggo...

I am still okay with it though :) For some reason it doesn't bother me to be pregnant at 39 weeks gestation like I was with my other two. I am actually enjoying being pregnant this time around!!! I love all things I can get away with lol! Lately I have been asked so many questions as when the baby will be born, some of them even assume that I am due any day now, which is true, but ya know... It is just too funny! Today I had a nice prenatal massage and a chiro adjustment, BOY that felt so DARN GOOD! I needed it! My sleeping patterns have been okay lately, thanks to the sangria I been drinking before going to sleep but I better sleep as much as I can NOW before the baby enters to the world because I know there will be a lot of sleepless nights pretty soon...

I have all my birthing supplies ready to go and I am very excited about that. My birthing pool is ready to be inflated right in my dining room (no, I am not putting it on the dinning table!). My Midwife is letting me use their Made in Water Birthing Pool and I am so thrilled of how this pool is made.

I am just hoping the baby will hold until July 28 which is Monday. Sabrina is getting baptized this coming Sunday (July 27) and I am also celebrating Serena's birthday that day right after Sabrina's christening. Fun... NOT! CHAOTIC!!!! I am forgetting to mention that I am attending a party this Friday, lovely! :)

Orgasmic Birth - Natural Birth

"The same hormones that are present during childbirth occur in all other episodes of women’s sexual lives, including lovemaking and orgasm. These hormones, when allowed to flow naturally and without disturbance, help reduce the pain of labor." OrgasmicBirth.com

This is exactly how I want 'my' birth! :)

Don't let anybody tell you, you cannot give birth naturally... It is a myth about having a small pelvis, or not been able to dilate, or because having a c-section previously you cannot give birth naturally... Natural Birth is possible in all ways! I am (as my mother and sister) a woman who doesn't easily dilate but sure needs a little help. I started taking Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) to get some things moving. EPO acts as a prostaglandin, which ripens or softens the cervix. This will help the baby to deeply engage in the pelvis. A lot of women that have gone through cesarean birth before, have been able to give birth vaginally and naturally (with no medical intervation) by taking this oil orally and vaginally. Most women are suggested to take it after their 36-37 weeks of gestation and it is completely safe for the mother AND the baby.

Since I want to give birth naturally at home, I have chosen to have an Orgasmic Birth. I want to be able to enjoy this birth (my last birth, sniff!) the way nature intented, without medical intervention, without the worries that are caused by a cold hospital room and people wearing scrubs! For God sakes - I am NOT SICK, I am just HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!!! We should all stop thinking of birth as a disease or an emergency... It's just giving BIRTH!

I have also decided to stop thinking about giving birth, let the time go, enjoy my pregnancy (well hellooooo, I will NOT be pregnant forever!!!!) and let nature decide when the baby is ready to be born. I have been induced (twice) in my previous pregnancies and that is not the way we are supposed to do it. We are not the ones who decide when the baby will be born, the baby is the one who decides when he/she is ready to come to the world... As nature intended.