A true “Labor” day weekend
Hannah Michelle
Well, we have been waiting for “Peanut” to arrive all month. We thought the due date was August 7th but because Shannon and George were planning a homebirth, they did not have an early sonogram to confirm this. At the beginning of the month, she had what she thought was a night of labor contractions so her mom came in and we were all excited. BUT…nothing happened. It was a month of waiting and wondering when Peanut would arrive. A late term sonogram a few weeks ago showed that they were maybe off on their due date and the baby was possibly due on September 8th. How frustrating. That last month is so hard to get through and now Shannon had even longer. Well, Peanut has finally arrived! Thursday afternoon George called us to tell us that Shannon had been having contractions since the middle of the night and that it looked like this was finally the real thing. So, after dinner Sam and I headed to Fort Worth. We sat around and visited and played marbles with the kids. I did not realize that Shannon was having contractions the whole time. She was very relaxed and calm. Sam left at about 9:30 but I was there for the night. The midwives came over at about 10:30. I tried to be helpful without being in the way. I did not want my presence to take away from the special moment for them. Shannon makes having a baby look like the easiest and most painless thing. I know she would beg to differ, but I really was amazed at how well she was able to concentrate and relax during contractions. Since I had to have a c-section and never experienced a single contraction, I only had the birth videos shown in my class to compare to. Those girls were wimps and complained way too much!
Anyway, Shannon continued to labor and when the midwives arrived they checked her and she was dialted to 9cm! For those who do not know what that means, it means she was about to have a baby. Shannon does that every time. She gets to the hospital or in this case has the midwife come when she is at a 9. When Shannon was close to delivery, Gran went to wake Emily up so she could see the birth. She was so interested and right there watching (I mean right there, only 8-12 inches from the “action”). Shannon pushed for only about 7 minutes and then had her beautiful baby.
Emily’s job was to announce if Peanut was a boy or a girl. She hesitated a bit and then told us that “Peanut is a girl”. Yeah! I was excited that Katherine will have a girl cousin her age (6 months apart).
One of the neat things about a home birth is that it is so relaxed in many ways. The midwife did not rush things. The birth was gentle with no pulling of the baby and they were able to recover in their own bed. Shannon and the baby got into the tub and George helped to bathe the baby. Then the midwife measured and weighed her (using a fish scale). After the assessment it seems unclear if she was early or late because there were several things to indicate each. The important thing is that she was healthy.
Being present for their birth was an amazing experience. I especially loved it since I had to miss out on the experience of a natural childbirth. If I had not had a c-section, I would probably now be entertaining the idea of a home birth. Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day.
By the way, they did not have the name right away but chose it in the morning. Hannah Michelle. Very pretty name for a very pretty baby girl.
