Vision

This is my fantastic midwife Melody! She is seriously amazing. I'm so grateful for her in my life.

Esther & Asenath had a well baby check up today. They are both doing fabulous! As we were walking to the car after the check up, I turned and looked at Mark holding Asenath in one hand and Eve on the other. I looked down at my hand holding Esther's hand and watching her walk like a little duckling following her mama. I took a deep breath and came to the realization again that I'm MARRIED and I have children, ALL girls! What a sweet feeling that was, well it was sweet! We all need those SwEeT reminders.

Birth Story:

I delivered two of my babies in the hospital, one natural and one with an epidural and I have got to say this last delivery at home was AMAZING in comparison. I was very surprised that she came a week late. In fact I was overly confident that she would come on her due date, her sisters did. Eve was born a few hours before her due date and Esther was born on her due date. Despite the wait, I think it was all DIVINE timing. I'm grateful my midwife was supportive for allowing us to wait it out. If It was my previous doctors they would have strongly suggested an induction. Don't get me wrong I tried some natural inducing methods and they ALL didn't work. The worse was the Castor oil, which royally sucked! I will never do that again. Just the thought of it, makes me want to vomit. I'm convinced conception and birthing time is out of our hands. Asenath has taught me so much about patience already. With that I hadn't felt waves (or contractions) that whole week. The night before she was born I felt tightness but no discomfort. It wasn't until 2am I felt my first REAL wave (contraction). I stayed in bed to see if I could sleep through it because I wasn't sure if they would be consistent. After about 3 of them I couldn't keep still so I got up and went into the living room where my sister was and asked her to time them. She quickly got me a hot pack and placed it on my back. I think she rubbed my back as well. I was trying to focus on my breathing that would increase the waves intensity to keep it consistent and it worked so after an hour of consistent waves 3 to 10 minutes apart I called my midwife and told her what was going on. I was a little hesitant since it was 3 in the morning and I didn't know for sure if this was going anywhere but I called her anyway. I had my sister wake up Mark so he could help out with the setup. I just chilled in the bathroom tub with warm water, lit candles & listened to my Hypnobabies CD (creating & visualizing your birth). I stayed in the tub for about an hour or so concentrating on my breathing and visualizing myself calm, peaceful & floating on water. Allowing myself to float calmly in this beautiful lake surrounded by beautiful trees. The sunlight was shining through the trees and landed on my tummy. Every time it landed on my tummy I would think of Asenath and how excited I was to soon meet her. Every time I would get tense I would say to myself peace, release & submit. Before I knew it my midwife was there applying pressure points to my body. She told me that the tub was ready in the living room so I could switch tubs anytime I wanted. So I got up and went to the living room. I started getting even more excited because I knew I would finally see my baby girl. When I got into the tub it was HOT! But it felt sooooooooooo good. It eased the discomfort I was feeling. When I was in the tub I had 3 people applying pressure points and massage on my body every time I had a wave. I felt loved, I felt what I was embarking was really something special with all the help that was being rendered to me. I remember feeling really exhausted that I couldn't open my eyes. I kept them closed the whole time to stay focus and really because I didn't have the energy to open them. I remember beads of sweat pouring down my face because the tub was so Hot but the hotness took the edge off the waves. I remember requesting a cold rag and within seconds someone was rubbing it on my face. I remember requesting Powerade and within seconds I was zipping it with a straw. My midwife checked me once and started to chuckle and the thought that ran through my mind and apparently Mark's mind as well "oh no I'm only dilated to a 3". So I quickly asked her why she chuckled and she responded "you re dilated to a 9 1/2 I don't know what's keeping her" I respond "Shut up, no way" I've been feeling waves a little over 2 hours let me remind you. I was pumped! This was indeed the fastest easiest labor I had ever had and I was astonished and excited that the end was around the corner. I asked my midwife if I could start pushing because I hadn't felt the urge yet and she said whenever you want. I had planned to breathe my baby out earlier but I was so excited and couldn't wait anymore the anticipation was killing me so I started grunting/aahing/moaning very loudly to get her out. I'm sure I woke up my neighbors down stairs but at least my two girls were fast asleep. Before I knew it she said don't sit down on your baby's head I got to pull over the cord it's around her neck. She asked me if I wanted to touch her head, I said no because I was so exhausted and it felt forever away. Finally the biggest relief, she came out! I can't believe how perfect things went! I was a little worried that my baby would be small but she was 9lbs. 1 0z. I was worried that I was going to tear because I pushed her out instead of breathing her gently out, not even one itsy bitsy tear. My responses was filled with shut up all over the place because I was so astonished. They probably thought I was so rude, but that's what I say when I'm surprised. Would I give birth at home in water again? OOOOOOOOH YAH! Not to brag or anything, but it was AWESOME! I hope everyone could get opportunity to say that there birth was AWESOME regardless the style they choose to birth. As long as it was what they envisioned for themselves or BETTER!

Asenath at 1 week:
This is my day chair where I nurse and nurse until I feel that my poor nipples will fall off.

First Name Asenath: Derived from the old testament. She was the mother of Ephraim & Manasseh. Wife of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. Her story is elaborated in the Apocrypha. She was a chaste & faithful woman of God. She ended up converting to Christianity. Her and Joseph ruled over Egypt for 48 years.

Middle Name 'Alohi me kanani o Ke Akua: Means to shine with the beauty of God in Hawaiian. In Psalms 27:4 it reads "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." We want our daughter to know that if she wants to shine with God's beauty she needs to go to the temple often and enquire with Him.

Mark filling up the birthing tub.

Mark rubbing my shoulders with aroma therapies to keep me relax. 10 minutes after this picture she was born.

My placenta in all it's glory

Mark weighing the baby

The first time Eve & Esther met their new baby sister

Look at that little dimple on the right.

We love her so much already

I'll share about my home birth experience next post. Just trying to catch up with sleep for now. Thank you all for your kindness expressed in many different ways. We love and appreciate you!

Last night Mark and I went on a hot date (Salsa Dancing) to get our minds off of our late comer and focus on each other. It was fun. We hadn't been dancing in years, so it was so nice to do something that we both love so much. (not counting the dance parties in the living room of course) These are the pictures we took before leaving. Thank you sister for giving us so much time together. We love you so much!

These are pictures we took from our hike yesterday to Battle Creek Canyon