Jace's Birthstory

Now that I have mastered nursing and typing and JW is napping I thought I would tell you all our home birth story! It's a little long but I know some of you really want to know what it was like.
Jace Vincent Hartoebben was born Sunday night (12/14) at 10:21 a whopping 8lbs 11oz and 20inches long.
Saturday I felt the sudden urge to clean the entire house air up the birthing pool and check the checklist the midwife gave us just to make sure everything was ready because I was so ready Sure enough Sunday at 4am I started having contractions and I quietly counted to myself to see how far apart they were by 5:30 I practically had to kick dad out of bed he was kinda in disbelief that they really were contractions after weeks of braxton hicks, LOL! Sure enough by 6:30 they were 5 minutes apart and since the baby has been so low the midwife wanted us to call right away. The midwife and her assistant came at 7:30. Started setting up all the equipment and all the contractions slowed way down which they said was normal so a couple hours later they went and checked on another couple and they started back up again. This time going no where! And our aunt picked up JW (we didn't think he would understand and I was to distracted with him there) I got to spend about an hour relaxing with my hubby just the two of us and then the midwives came back and checked me and i was a 6. Then my mom came from KS, a day earlier than she had planned, lol! And to my surprise decided to stay for the labor (she was a little freaked out about the whole thing) By 5 ever thing started getting more intense so we filled up the pool and I hopped in loved it made me feel much lighter. Started pushing and 2 1/2 hours later we started getting concerned because i wasn't making any progress so they had to check everything out which was a scary because he should have been making his way out by then it was disscouraging to me because I was working so hard and nothing was happening. The whole time his heart rate stayed in a healthy range of 140 but he should have been moving down. After another hour he started crowning and they saw a hand next to his face, what a relief to know why he was taking he sweet time to come. So after moving his arm there he was swimming through the water to meet me! A perfect little man! Immediately he started nursing! I think that was the highlight for me! With JW I had to wait 3 hours for no good reason to nurse. I will have to say my husband did and awesome job being a support person and enjoyed feeling useful. He said seeing me do that has given him a whole new respect for me. My mom also impressed me! She stuck it out the whole time even though she didn't agree with ever thing she was an awesome coach telling me when to push and just looking out for me. I couldn't have had a better team.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It shows all the love and support we had at our birth. Each hand is a different person. My husbands who supported me the whole time and now has a whole new respect for me. My two midwives who were talented enough to guide me through the process. And a new friend who had 'magical' hands and helped me through my contractions. And me holding my beautiful little angel Jace.

Highlights:
Midwives stayed with us all day.
Hubby felt like he was needed and useful in labor.
I got to decided where I wanted to labor and have the baby.
We never had to leave home.
Baby stayed in sight the whole time.
Enjoyed the alone time with Kevin during early labor would have never happened anywhere else but home.

Over all it was just a very long hard labor, but could have been a C-section if I was in a hospital, so glad they were skilled to know how to move his hand and come out perfectly healthy.

He has been to his first check up after a gagging episode and looking a little jaundice but nothing was found and the jaundice isn't bad enough to worry about. He is happy nursing every hour and snuggled close to mom or dad. JW is starting to warm up to him he gets concerned when he cries: "baby crying, want drink" we are waiting for his sippy cup to make it to Jace's mouth, LOL!