Eden's Birth Story

Our sweet little Eden Katherine started getting ready to come right on her due date. We didn't do child birthing classes this time, I just re-read the classics (Hypnobirthing: the Mongan Method, Childbirth Without Fear, and Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth) and listened to the Hypnobirth recordings every night for several months. The last month or so had been pretty uncomfortable, I feel like my chiropractor saved my life after dealing with some super painful SPD. I was in early labor for most of the day on Feb 4, and by the late afternoon I told Matt not to come home early, but to get ready because I was pretty sure it was baby day. After he got home, he took Mariah out on their weekly Chipotle dinner date to give me a break, then I labored at home for awhile. After Mariah was asleep, I took a bath and went through several hypnobirthing scripts. 

I told Matt to get some rest before we left for the hospital, so he went to sleep a little before 10. I called my midwife around 11pm when contractions were about 5 minutes apart, she said she would call back in an hour and check in. An hour later after pacing around the living room and walking circles around the kitchen island, contractions were 3-4 minutes apart. Looking back, this is one of my favorite memories. Just being alone in the dark living room, preparing to meet my baby, physically feeling everything fall in to place just like I hoped it would. After my midwife called back to check on the progress, we started getting ready to go to the hospital.

My friend Christina came over to stay the night and be with Mariah when she woke up. (Mariah was REALLY excited about this, we told her when she went to sleep that we were probably going to get baby sister tonight, and she had been talking excitedly for weeks about getting to play with her friends while we go to the hospital). It was starting to freezing rain as we left that night, but we were grateful this was in between major snowstorms. In the weeks before, the storms had been so bad there were travel bans and roads were closed- yikes.

We got to Hartford Hospital and checked in around 1 am, and I was relieved that my midwife Laura was there waiting for us. I was trying my best to stay calm focused on breathing, but in my mind I was worried I was totally being a wimp because it was feeling really HARD really soon! I was up pacing and walking around for a bit, until I felt like I just wanted to sit in the rocking chair. Matt was being fantastic, dutifully following the list I printed out for him of his jobs during labor (that probably sounds/is really controlling but best thing ever= I got everything I needed, expectations were set, and he didn't have to read my mind or ask me every few minutes what I wanted). Around 3 am after listening to the deep groans that barely sounded like they were coming from me, my water released, and soon after I felt like pushing. My midwife was truly amazing and skilled. She intuitively knew when to grab a cool wash cloth, when to feed me ice chips, when to ask what I needed and when to give me some space. On Feb 5 at 4:16 am, out came our beautiful Eden, fully posterior, face up ready to see the world, just like Mariah. The delivery couldn't have gone more smoothly, especially for a posterior baby.

Matt and I both went to Eden's first bath, then spent the day resting and getting to know our sleepy little infant. Mariah was happily playing at Christina's house, but I felt like it would be best for Matt to pick her up and take her home so she could spend the night in her own bed. I stayed alone in the hospital with Eden for the night, and I was surprisingly not lonely at all. It felt like the best vacation ever (minus the childbirth recovery part haha) being alone, with food being brought to me, a whole hospital staff to bring me anything I needed, peace and quiet and soaking up the newborn sweetness. This was the reward I had waited so long for! I totally felt the blissed-out smile move across my face every time I looked down at Eden in my arms.

In the morning, Matt came back and brought Mariah with him. I missed her and was so excited to see her meet her new sister. We took a few videos and a lot of pictures. I couldn't stop laughing at how messy her hair was, a leftover disheveled braid from the day before with a couple random hair bows stuck in. I guess she does need a mom ;) When I was nursing Eden, Mariah looked at me curiously, then without saying anything she crawled on the hospital bed and started munching on my bare shoulder. Then she stopped and said, "I eat mommy too." Bahahah.  It felt so GOOD to have my whole family all together!

Even now, almost 3 months later, Eden is just sweet as can be. I feel SO overwhelmingly grateful for her every day. She started smiling when she was like two weeks old, and now we are starting to get little giggles and gurgles out of her. Mariah tells her in a sing-song voice, "Oh widdle Eden we wuv you so so so much! You are so wery cute!"

My heart is so full.