Birth of Freyja on August 2, 2015

 So early July we took possession of a new place (only 6 blocks from our previous home) and spent the whole month slowly moving.

After a very long day we finished moving and clearing and cleaning out our old place on Friday, which was the last day of the month, then had a full moon cleansing fire to burn old stuff and papers no longer needed. Its something Devin and I do once a month sometimes as a bit of a cleansing ritual. Let go and clear out the old and make room for the new! We even burnt a bunch of my old childhood stuff, and I remember Devin saying that I can let go of that part of my life and that I was truly ready to transition into the next phase on my life of being a mother. I was having some moments of intense back pain and having to stop and sit lots. We didn’t know at the time though Devin did joke a few times that I was going into labor, but this was when I started to feel the very first initial minor contractions.

We then went home and I got to sleep around 3am, then only a couple houes later was woken up by contractions at 530 am Saturday morning. Spent a lot of the morning/day trying to get sleep between contractions because I knew 2 hours was not enough to go through labor on! It worked well apparently I would even snore between contractions.

Laying down so much though was making for pretty slow progression so we tried to stay moving as much as I could. We went for a long walk in the sun around the near by park in the afternoon which sped things up a little, got to around 3-7mins apart lasting over a minute. When at home we danced some and I did some very gentle yoga flows. By 230am I felt what I was sure was my water breaking in the middle of an intense contraction, but not a lot leaked out (Devin didn’t even believe me at the time). We continued to labor at home for a couple more hours even though sometimes i felt so ready to go, especially after a few throw ups. One of them I was on the floor on my yoga mat and a big contraction came and I literally through up clear fluid all over the entire floor in the living room. Of course this was a moment when Devin was in the bathroom instead of with me and even though there was a puke bucket just on the other side of my mat I couldn’t move enough to get to it!

It wasn’t long after that when the time seemed right we ended up going to the hospital at around 5 am. Devin put really chill music on headphones for me so I could stay in the zone and it sure worked. Kept my eyes closed and focused on the music and breathing. I highly recommend it!

By the time the first nurse checked me I was at 6cm dilated and 90% effaced, then what seemed very shortly after getting in to our labor delivery room, I was feeling that pushy urge but was worried cause I did not want to push too soon and cause any swelling. The nurse checked and said I was 8cm and that babies head was really far down, so she got another nurse to come check.  The second nurse felt I was fully dilated, which was relieving, and by the time the doctor came in I had already been pushing for a bit.

We told them we were hoping to have an all natural labour and no pain meds early on and they all completely respected that and never once asked nor were pushy about anything. Then the doctor not only let Devin “catch” the baby, but she also let him basically completely deliver her. He did warm coconut oil compresses on me, she gave him tips, he held my bits together from tearing, wiped my butt, helped coax her head out, then helped each shoulder free then catched her and passed her to me. She cried out almost right away and he cut the cord after it stopped pulsing. Only thing the doctor did was unwrap one loose loop around her neck, and coached with inspiring words which was really helpful to me. She even said to him afterwards “If you ever have to catch your next baby at home you’re good, you got this. ..But I didn’t say that.” haha.

So in the end she was born at 9:41 Sunday morning! We got tummy time right away and she pooped all over me.

I ended up getting 3 small superficial tears, which took 4 stiches to mend up. But I barely noticed them at all, I was too captivated by little Feyja.

My birth was an absolutely beautiful experience. We are both feeling enormously blessed and grateful!