Thursday, February 5, 2009

Three Years Ago Today....

I was just at the beginning of my labour with Jasper. We were living out in the country ( the year which we now refer to as the experiment...) , all of us nestled into a 850sq ft cottage on 25 acres of gorgeous land in the mountains. I had called my midwife and was just taking space to myself, trying to stay comfortable while my mom put the kids to bed, and David prepared the birthing tub. I don't know exactly how he managed to do it, but he filled it with our tiny water heater and then added hot kettle water, and covered it with blankets to keep the water warm. By the time I got in, it was still really warm, therapeutic level - it was divine! David and I had the most beautiful winter walk to the high meadow by moonlight, pausing here and there to allow waves of contraction to pass. I recall the air being cold, but enjoying it in my handmade legwarmers (recycled sweater) and night gown, layered with a coat and sheepskin boots. It was the most exquisite snowy white, clear, silent night. And by the time I returned, I was fully dilated and ready to ease into the tub. Within about 20 minutes and several pushes, little 6lb 12 oz Jasper Finn entered the world! He was born in the caul, which means his amniotic sac was intact, a rare occurrence which carries lore of good omen. It was my first home birth, and such a beautiful experience. Such a beautiful son, who I will wake up and wish a Happy Third Birthday to in the morning.



~Here I am full term, hours before labor began, with my little Vivi girl~


And minutes after his birth, my little Jasper and my dear, sweet midwife, Jan, who has caught two of my babies!


And here is what it looks like around here with Valentine season around the corner...


Our friend, Abby, taught the girls how to make these really cool origami valentines. We plan to practice making more together.







And Vivi made some sort of game that involves rolling dice and choosing a color of paper






I am signing off to prepare my little star's birthday table... pecan coffee cake for breakfast, a monkey balloon, three candles on the birthday ring and present to open. And Grammy and Grandaddy have arrived to celebrate with us!


~With love and gratitude to my beautiful midwifes, Jan and Molly~

5 comments:

Linda said...

Really beautiful story of your labour, thank you for sharing this precious moment......

liz @ longview builders said...

What a sweet birth story. I hope you all have a great birthday celebration! I had Jan at 2 of my births as well! She walks on water in my eyes!I also had a water birth at home. What a joy. All the best, Liz

Lisa said...

Beautiful post! I love the origami hearts!

jessica said...

My second son was also born in caul and in the water with a sweet midwife catching him, although we were in a hospital (an incredibly progressive one!). I had no idea that being born in the amniotic sac had a name!

brown robin said...

That is such a beautiful birth story. How wonderful. We do have little girls that are close in age, and I hadn't noticed but they do look alot alike! Thanks so much for the felting advice; I'm definitely going to try it. It's perfect. We used cookie cutters this weekend before I saw your comment. She did great and was thrilled. I would love to read a post that describes the ziploc bag technique further. Hope you're enjoying these amazing days. I've been in the garden constantly and I bet you've been in yours. (P.S. I was laughing about the experiment... we live in 900 sq. ft. It's best when we can be outdoors.)