Eliaz's Birth

When I found out I was pregnant with my second child I was excited, my estimated due date was Halloween, my favorite day of the year. We tried for a homebirth with my first born. I labored at home for about 24 hours before I decided it was best to go to the hospital. He was born naturally with a little medical assistance however my husband and I really wanted to avoid the hospital and have our second in the privacy of our own home.

We chose a midwife early on who had a lot of experience and wonderful references. My husband was laid off days after I found out I was pregnant. We were scared about not being to afford a Midwife but our friends and family told us to have faith and trust the universe. For our baby shower we had a BBQ on the beach and asked if people wanted to gift us to please donate money for our Midwife. In mid September we had our BBQ and our friends and family helped us pay for almost half of our Midwife. We were blown away with such gratitude. 

My second pregnancy was very beautiful and spiritual. I prepared my mind and body with yoga, exercise, eating well and chasing after my 2 year old son. I saw a chiropractor regularly and this really helped with many common discomforts of pregnancy. When I was about 36 weeks along my chiropractor told me I would deliver about 2 weeks early from my due date. I half hoped he would be wrong as I was still enjoying being pregnant and I needed to get ready for the new babe. That weekend we started getting our birth supplies together. I also ordered my birth kit the Midwife suggested. I was also starting to get cramps and a heavy sensation in my pelvis. We walked about 2 miles every night and I was really feeling it when we walk and said to my husband I think this little guy is going to come out early but he has to wait until next weekend, until I was 37 weeks.

I made it through the week and Friday I had an appointment with my midwife. A wonderful thing happened. Two weeks prior she had moved about 5 minutes from my home where before she was an hour. I was so excited to see her. I told her about all my signs including the conversation with the chiropractor and she checked me and I was dilated. She said it could be any day or a few weeks. Little did I know that the upcoming weekend was going to be a big one.

On Saturday my friend painted my belly with a henna tattoo to prepare for my blessingway party on Sunday. I woke up Sunday at 5am with an extreme sensation to pee. After peeing the contractions started. I called my midwife and she told me to get some rest and call if they got more intense and closer. The day went on and I relaxed, went to grocery store, went to beach and took family pictures, played at the beach, napped, cleaned my house, and had a blessingway party. All this while my contractions stayed at about 7-8 minutes apart and bearable. My Midwife did stop by for a visit mid afternoon to drop off her equipment and checked me out She told me I would have the baby about 1am.

In the late evening things started to get exciting. The contractions  were coming on stronger and as I got my son ready for bed I couldn't wait for him to go to sleep. Finally at 9:30pm I had to get out and walk after walking down the hill from my house I told me husband we better go back and call the midwife. She was there in 5 minutes. We sent my husband to sleep as the pool was all set up and he really needed some rest for the main event. Everything went very quickly from there. The contraction were hard and fast. I prayed, yelled, cried, breathed and surrendered myself to the birthing process. It was absolutely powerful. My Midwife woke my husband around 12:30am and around 1:00am I had to get out of the birthing pool and push because I needed some gravity to help me. I squatted on a birthing stool and hang from my husband's neck pushing and breathing. We saw the baby crowning, the midwife grabbed a pillow for the floor and with the next push my baby flew out of me and into the midwife's hands. We were all shocked and so was our little son who has just entered the world. He gave a strong cry immediately. The first words out of my husband's mouth were "You did it! We did it! We're home!" Eliaz Ahava was born in our home at 1:38am on Monday, October 12th. He was 6lbs 8oz and 3 weeks early.

Another amazing thing was our 2 year old had slept through this all and did wake up until 4:30am. This meant my husband and I had three full hours to snuggle and hold our newborn son before we had to share him with anyone. Also, Eliaz was born on my grandmother's birthday. This is special as my grandmother had 8 children and many grand and great grandchildren. This was the only one of her decedents to be born on her birthday.  Our second son is our Libra, he has brought balance to our family and our lives.