Liz went into labor at 5:30am last Sunday morning. She graciously allowed me to sleep until 6:30am at which point I was awakened by a slight nudging and a smile-filled outburst of a whisper, “it’s happening!” We spent the next several hours hanging around the house (mostly in the bathroom, as Liz found it easiest to take contractions on the toilet – fun!), and contractions were happening every 3 to 6 minutes, with little aftershock contractions in between. Around 11am Rose, our doula, arrived at our house. She helped us get everything together, and we hopped in the car for a long and painful ride to The Birth Center in Bryn Mawr.

There was a sense of calming relief as we pulled into the parking lot. But that was soon followed by slight disappointment when the midwife checked Liz’s cervix and informed us that her body just wasn’t ready yet and to come back in a few hours. This wasn’t at all a surprise, and we had made plans to hang out at Liz’s parents’ house if this wound up being the case. 15 minutes and another painful car ride later, we arrived at the MacDonald residence. We were greeted with love and enthusiasm, but Liz didn’t make it more than 30 minutes without deciding that she needed to hang out in the bath tub. She, Rose and I all squeezed into the small bathroom, and I can only imagine the horror of her family (and the poor, poor neighbor who was outside doing yard work) in reaction to the ridiculous moans, grunts, and screams echoing throughout the house. It was one of the less pleasant times in my life (and I’m sure in Liz’s as well).

At about 3:30pm we were given the OK to return to The Birth Center. This good news helped to mask some of the pain, and we were back in the birthing suite in a jiffy. The midwife checked Liz’s cervix again, and she was dilated to 4cm and we were allowed to stay! The rest of the day is a bit of a haze. Liz quickly made her way to 7cm, and within a few hours hanging out in a jacuzzi tub she reached 9cm. Our families were waiting patiently in the lounge. We were so close, almost there, just 1cm to go! And then the progress stopped. Strong contractions were still happening in close, regular intervals, but the cervix just wouldn’t go past 9cm. Keep in mind there are NO pain medications or epidurals in natural child birth, so pain without progress it that much more painful. Everybody felt a bit deflated.

Fortunately Korben, our acupuncturist from Philadelphia Community Acupuncture in West Philly , was available to help out. After needling a few very specific points on Liz’s body, she quickly and amazingly reached 10cm. Hooray! Little did we know how much more time and effort would be required to bring Elzie into the world. Liz was an absolute champ. She didn’t let up for a minute, and at no point said, “I can’t do this!” or “where the pills at!?” By the end I was blown away by her determination. The head was partially out and her contractions started to become further apart. Instead of resting for 4 to 6 minutes between each contraction, she actually manually jumpstarted contractions every 1 to 2 minutes with nipple stimulation. It was really crazy. And it really worked.

Elzie was born at 1am on Monday, November 3rd – also my sister’s birthday. It was such an emotional and proud moment for me and for Liz. Our birth team at The Birth Center was absolutely phenomenal. The midwife and nurse, and our doula and acupuncturist all had integral roles, and I really don’t think we could have done it without any one of them.

The freedom and nurturing environment of The Birth Center is indescribable. The hospital is great for some people, but not for us. Birth is a miracle of life, not an in-patient procedure. The absence of beeping monitors, glaring overhead lights, tiny uncomfortable beds, rushed doctors, and that oh-so-awful hospital smell certainly were not missed, and really allowed for a calm, relaxed, natural and supportive environment. Elzie wasn’t whisked out of our arms 5 minutes after birth and taken to a bright and lonely incubation room. She was allowed to stay with us, comforted and loved the entire time, never once leaving our sight. And following the afterbirth, all of our family and friends were allowed to join us in our room with our beautiful little new addition. We finally got to go to bed around 4am, and fell asleep happily and promptly, with Elzie in between us in our very comfortable double bed.

Thank you to The Birth Center, our wonderful team, and all of our friends and family for all of your support! And now, some pictures!

There are also a few more pics on my Flickr page. Many more posts to come!

Last weekend was a thrifting weekend, and we had our sights set on baby clothes. We decided to check out a flea market right down the street, where we met some very nice people and happened upon this gem:
 

Measuring in just shy of 4ft x 5ft, it was the largest frame I’ve ever come in contact with. It was in pretty bad shape — water damage had stripped a lot of the finish, stained and warped the mounting, and left a less than pleasant looking residue on the glass. 
 

 
It was $15. It was fantastic! We told the seller we were going to use it in our baby room, and he remarked that we could do a map and planet theme with glow stars. It’s like he had known us our whole lives. Actually, it wasn’t anything like that. We told him we had other plans, and after learning that our purchase was too big for our vehicle, and then driving back home for supplies, and then slapping a huge frame with a huge sheet of glass on the roof of our car, and then very carefully arriving home, we started to flesh out our ideas. After a trip to Ikea, Jomar, and A.C. Moore, we were ready to get down to business!

And here’s my butt!

Removing the original stain with a power sander:

Liz wiping down the bare wood. With all that baby stuff happening inside her, she had to stick to the “special” tasks.

Here’s the beautiful wood that was just below the surface of all that nastiness! If we weren’t after vibrant colors, this grain would have made for a wonderful staining. 

Here’s my face!

After a priming and several coats of bright green paint, we mounted some large-pattern fabric and hung carefully on some heavy-duty hooks. I had been on the lookout for some up-lighting, and on our fabric run we happened upon these perfectly matching clamp lights on the cheap! Wooooo!