| Dear Jessica, He's here! Rémy Xavier Tangye Lean Rachou arrived on February 6th at 1.28 am at home. At 5am on the 5th of February (my due date) my waters broke - nothing dramatic -I was lying in bed and felt a trickle of water. All through the day I had mini contractions, every 9 - 10 minutes. They didn't hurt and were like mild cramps. We spent the day preparing for the birth - setting up the birthing tub, monitoring my contractions, listening to his heartbeat, taking some last minute photos of my large pregnant tummy and getting some rest. Of all the days for him to arrive I was sure he wouldn't come on his due date - I had convinced myself I'd be at least a week late, if not two! I was disappointed that my midwife Lesley Stewart was off duty for that weekend and so I got the back up midwife, Elizabeth. My mother - who has over 20 years of home birth experience as a midwife - was with us so I knew I was in good hands regardless. Mummy predicted that I would have little contractions all day, not kick in to proper labor until Minty went to sleep and then it would be very fast. Sure enough, I put Minty to bed at 8pm and as the evening progressed the intensity and frequency of my contractions started to pick up. At 9pm the midwife arrived armed with a breast-pump and homeopathic remedies to try to get my labor going - apparently if you don't go into labor within 24 hours of your waters breaking they have to give you antibiotics. I assured her I would try anything in due course but I thought that a walk might be the best thing to try first. Having eaten dinner with us she went home. My friend and I went on a 45 minute walk up our lane and around the streets off Mulholland and it worked - no remedies needed. We got home and within 20 minutes the contractions were coming every 4 - 5 minutes and I was unable to talk during them. My mother called the midwife and I got
into the birthing tub because it was all getting going. It was such a relief from
the pain of the contractions to be enveloped in the hot water. The room was filled
with scented candles, flowers, music and very low lighting. It was so hot and
steamy I was a little Our family have very fast labors and mine definitely fitted that pattern. From 11 until about 1 I labored in the pool. My husband, Didier, squeezed and hugged me through the discomfort of each contraction over the side of the tub. If I started to panic, doubt or feel I might not be up to the task Mummy coached me along and got me to re-focus on the moment. She encouraged me to go with each contraction - welcoming it and then letting it go. I found it so helpful to see that the mounting pain and hard work was bringing me ever closer to the goal of getting my baby out. At some point during all this Elizabeth, the midwife, arrived back and began organizing herself - I remember sound-bites of information - like her calling for an assistant and explaining how hard it was to find our house - she was quickly shuffled into another room so that I could remain focused. Everything suddenly shifted and his head dropped right down into the birth canal and I was feeling the urge to push. It was so soon that I almost doubted that this was the right thing to do but Mummy kept telling me to trust my body to let me know what to do. I waited for each contraction and pushed down. Then as his head began to crown Mummy told me to try not to push but rather let the contractions ease him out. It all seemed to go into slow motion as I panted my way through several more contractions and slowly my body stretched to let him out without tearing. I reached down into the water to feel the top of his head as it came out. Then I had to wait for another contraction for him to turn and for his body to come out. Mummy and Didier reached down and lifted him up out of the water and onto my chest. It was all so gentle - no large screams - he lay on me looking around and began to breathe - totally moving and astonishing. He was soon latched onto my breast and hasn't looked back! He weighed 6 lbs. and was 20 inches. He's put on 3 pounds and grown at least an inch in 3 weeks! I lost 20lbs in a week - so to all those worrying about weight gain - it really is a means to an end and once the baby is out and you get your body back it's amazing how quickly it snaps back into place - give or take a few pounds! Thank you for all the wonderful
yoga - I miss our classes! Good luck to everyone else - I look forward to reading
the stories on the website.
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