After our epic adventure in WWOOFing, we’ve made a spot for
ourselves in Venice, Florida. Our happy family of three has grown to five.
Myself, Daniel, Annabelle, our cat Bartholomew, and our newest addition Luna;
our beautiful baby girl. Yes, I said
BABY! It’s been a busy time and I havnt updated in a long time.
As soon as I rolled out of bed, April 8th, I
was hit with little contractions, most of with I didn’t even notice unless I
pressed on my stomach and found it hard. I told Daniel and we started to get
excited. I was able to time them at 10 minutes apart and since they didn’t hurt
like I’d been expecting them to, we went to Starbucks. While we were getting
our coffee on, I texted my high school friend, Jill, and told her my
contractions had started. She said hers had started too.
By 1:30PM, nothing had changed. Daniel gathered up his
things for work and told me to keep him updated and call if anything happens.
For a good hour everything was normal and then the pains in my back started.
Laying in bed, skyping with my friend Maggy, I timed the few seconds worth of
uncomfortable pressure in my back and got to 6 or 7 minutes apart before I
decided to call the birthing center. We made a plan to wait until contractions
were 3 – 5 minutes apart and lasting a full minute before heading to the
center. There still wasn’t any “pain”, just discomfort, so I felt pretty
confident about the whole process. This was going to be a piece of cake.
At 9:45 I called Daniel and told him to be home by 10. I had
hit 3 minutes apart and we still needed to get to the center with was a half
hour away. He was home at exactly 10 and we grabbed our pre-packed bags of
supplies and piled into the car. Daniel brought up that we hadn’t eaten any
dinner and I needed fuel to get through the rest of the labor. After a brief
argument, I caved and we stopped at McDonalds. In the drive through, getting my
McNuggets, the pain appeared and the contractions in my back made my back arch.
I started to worry if we would get to center in time.
We got to the center at 11:30PM and met with my midwife,
Harmony. The contractions got steadily stronger and I spent the next two hours
pacing the birthing center and holding onto Daniel for dear life every time a
contraction hit. I desperately needed water and at some point drinking wasn’t enough
and I begged to take a shower, just to feel the water and try to calm down. I made
it up the stairs and leaned in the doorway of the bathroom. I knew instantly
that this had been an awful idea. My vision started to go and my skin got cold.
I told them I was going to faint and my midwives rushed to help. One gave me a
cup of juice and the other brought over a large, bouncy, exercise ball for me
to sit on. I managed to hang on to consciousness and after a few more
contractions the decision was made to not take a shower and get me back
downstairs and into the bed. Since things were progressing nicely, we figured
that I should try and get some sleep to be rested for when the pushing starts.
I laid there on the bed, Daniel spooning me to keep me
comfortable through the contractions. I knew sleep was NOT going to happen but
laying there on my side did give me some rest. I don’t know how much time
passed but at some point everything changed and the contractions turned into a
clenching. My body had started pushing and there was no stopping it. The
midwives came in saying they heard some pushing in that last…. Uh, noise I was
making.
They started filling the birthing tub and telling me it was
time to sit up. I was told to sit up and move to the edge of the bed, and then
they could help me straight into the tub. Every part of me wanted to stay
laying down, I felt like something was going to happen if I sat up. I was
right. I got up and scooted to the edge of the bed and my water broke. I instantly
made a break for the tub. The water was almost too hot but it didn’t matter, it
was exactly where I wanted to be. I leaned back and tried to zone my mind out
and just let my body take over but it doesn’t quite work that way. I did manage
to stay as relaxed as I could, focused on what I was doing and constantly
asking for water and gulping it down through a little bendy straw. Only a few
minutes passed but it felt so much longer.
Finally, at 2:30 AM on April 9, 2013, Luna Jade Castiglione
was born into her daddy’s arms. She weighed 6lbs 13oz.
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