Boy, did this baby come quick! I get the call from the wife on a Friday at 2:00 that I might want to start making my way home, as the contractions that have been running off and on sporadically since morning are now about 10 minutes apart....serious, but not terribly by most cases. So I get home at 2:45 (I was away from the office) and she is much more progressed than the last time I talked to her, and she is very emotional. I call the mid-wife and tell her "game on", and she is on the way. Meegan is pacing and breathing through the contractions in the beedroom while I am starting to get things ready....making the bed, getting out the supplies from the birth kit, etc. Our good friend Tracy L. shows up for support and photo-duty and suggests that meegan lie down to try to slow the contractions. Just then, the mid-wife walks in and comes around to the side of the bed. Then suddenly, BAM! Meegan's water breaks and there is the crowning head...out he comes in a matter of seconds....all 9lb 8oz and 22 inches of him. He's HUGE! And PERFECT!! The time is 4:00. Meegan recalls that she didn't even consciously push....her body and the baby did the work. All I can say is, she is a super stud...unbelievable!! I can't respect her enough for what she is capable of.
Samuel Isaak Rahlen Kliewer....baby brother to Madelyn and Benjamin. And they are loving all over him. It's cool to see how well they've taken to him. We just have to watch it with Ben because he is still learning what "gentle" means, apparently. We're all adjusting just fine and are enjoying our family of five. Samuel already has a plethora of nicknames...Sammy, Little Red Sambo, Saminator...on and on. Despite the workload that comes with a newborn, we're having lots of fun!
I've talked to a few people...friends, acquaintances...who are intrigued by the decision to home birth, but who think we're either crazy or risky or both, usually. But it makes a lot of sense to us. I've said previously that I won't get on the birthing soap box and I won't. But I just believe, after much consideration, that medical intervention can sometimes...not always (every thing has its place)... propogate more intervention and lead down a road that many birthing mothers would not have chosen for themselves. I want to stay far away from generalizations, however, some doctors and nurses for some reason seem to have a great fear of just letting the body do it's thing. I'm sure it's the whole malpractice issue. Home birthing with a qualified and trustworthy mid-wife, and a hospital/doctor back-up plan, takes that problem out of the picture. The mother is free to labor and birth her baby however and wherever she feels is right for her and her body...peacefully and quietly...much better for the wellfare of everyone...mother, baby, and father too. The baby is born into a stress-free environment, not bombarded by blinding lights and poking, prodding medical staff......instant skin-to-skin contact with mother, which is so important. I think that the medical community mindset tends to treat childbirth as a medical emergency, a condition that requires treatment, rather than the totally natural occurence that it is. This is strange to me, as I know that these people have all had children of their own. All I'm saying is that people have been having children naturally at home with mid-wives for thousands of years. And Yes, I know that lots of women and infants throughout this history died from complications that may have been prevented. I'm not saying that we blindly insist that it happen at home and we don't consult doctors at all. We see the doctor during pregnancy more than the mid-wife and have everthing in place for a trip to the hospital, should we need it.
I said I wasn't going to get on a soap box....oh well!
