We would like to THANK EVERYONE who made Levi's birthday such a SPECIAL SPECIAL day!!! - for everyone who drove hours to attend the party Saturday - for all the thoughtful cards & gifts - to my Grandma, Mom, & sisters who came a day early & spent hours helping clean & cook.
Saturday was SIMPLY MAGICAL - a beautiful mix of friends & family - all the GreatGrandparents & Grandparents - Aunts & Uncles - sisters - such a rare event to have both Joe & my extended family together. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI you are a joy in our lives!!!!
Many birthday pics to come...
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I digress....
I'm up late tonight - it's one am - I'm thinking back to a year ago - I was sound asleep - but at 3:50 AM I woke to go to the bathroom & within minutes my water broke & for the next 30 minutes I was shaking uncontrollable - excited & scared & surprised! - we scrambled around to prepare the house for labor - I emailed Angie, made a call to Wildwood, & called our midwife - but within just a short while I was filling the tub with warm water (we'd prepared for a water birth) & trying to focus thru growing contraction pains....
Labor came a full week before I expected it & totally took me by surprise - it was a fast & furious labor & a few minutes after noon Levi was within arms.
It wasn't the homebirth I expected either, low heart tones got us sent to the hospital at 8 AM by our homebirth midwife - in hindsight the decision to transfer was hastily made & regarded as a mistake by all involved - the transfer was absolutely devastating to me & something I still struggle to accept - after all the time & effort into making a Georgia homebirth possible - after working to educate friends & family that 'yes' homebirth was safe & something that happens everyday all over the world - after withstanding too many uneducated doubtful comments.
In the end it was a beautiful natural birth without meds - with a harrowing high speed car ride in the middle! :) - Joe cheering/encouraging/loving me through every overwhelming contracting - Joe caught Levi as he made his way out - we kept the placenta attached for 1.5 hours (and then brought it home with us) - and finally I got to cut the cord that had joined us for 9 months - after 24 hours we were back home, never being separated from our precious new child - what a wild experience birth is! - different for every woman.
I am still a huge homebirth advocate - Georgia is way behind in it's homebirth midwifery laws - many of our neighboring states: Florida, South Carolina, & Tennessee all fully back homebirths - if you live in these states you can have your homebirth covered by insurance (not so in GA) or if on Medicaid, the state will pay for your homebirth. Birth is big business in the USA - it has been turned into a 'medical condition' that you have to be hospitalized for - BULLSHIT. Europe is way ahead of us - midwife birth is the norm - homebirth widely practiced - doulas standard. If I do have another child I will certainly plan another homebirth.
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