Spirit of Poverty: My Birth Story (Part 2)

Last week I told you about the labor portion of my homebirth (My Birth Story Part 1). Today I'll share about the post delivery aspect.

After giving birth to my baby girl on the bathroom floor, I was assisted to my living room couch. The midwives had wrapped up the placenta in one the sterile pads and bundled Christy in a towel, who was being held by her dad and grandmother, before being cozied up next to me on the sofa. The umbilical cord was kept on, not cutting it, until all that wonderful cord blood had drained from it. I LOVED this. One of the first things the doctor did with my 5 previous babies was to cut the umbilical cord and waste all the benefits of the rich cord blood. I wasn't given the choice to have it any other way. With a homebirth it's all choice~you become empowered and encouraged to make your own decisions.

Instead of having a rushed post delivery period, the baby being passed around, poked and prodded at, with this experience everything was taken slow and mellow. Keeping the moment beautiful.

When the time was right, Christy was evaluated.

Her vitals taken.

Measured and weighed.

All done right from my couch. She was always kept close to me.

Both Christy and I were treated with utmost love and comfort.

The midwives stayed for two hours from the time of delivery to ensure baby and I were doing alright. They used the time to carefully clean, sterilize, and reorganize all their tools of the trade. I was given the choice by my husband to have anything to eat, he'd make me anything. I had a craving for french toast! So it was, my post partum meal was a batch of my hubby's scrumptious homemade french toast :)

It was my doulas first homebirth experience as well, so she stayed and watched everything-taking it in and learning from it. I didn't know until after the fact that she was a real godsend to my husband. During the heat of the action of my impromptu bathroom delivery, my husband was left on the outside. From the hallway he could only catch glimpses and was beginning to panic a bit not knowing if everything was alright or not. My doula was able to give him peace of mind reassuring him the process was going normal and all was well. I am eternally grateful for her role in my birth.

The midwives came back every few days in the beginning to check on us and then every week or so until our 6 week post partum check up. I couldn't be more delighted or pleased with my homebirth or my wonderful midwives.

It was my husband who was most turned on to the homebirth experience. In his excitement he told nearly every person he came across our birth story--including the lady behind the Subway counter! I think he's shared our story more times than I have. He was asking me why didn't have a homebirth sooner with our other daughters. Back when we first started having babies he was dead set that babies were born in hospitals, period. Well we sure made a convert out of him!! He even had a buddy at work whose wife was pregnant and considering a homebirth. My husband was sharing with the other guy how wonderful it was and that he should let his wife give it a try if she wanted to. Oh he's come a long ways, my little homebirth advocate!

Spirit of Poverty: My Birth Story (Part 1)

At last. My birth story! I bet you thought I'd NEVER get around to it :) All that talk and preparation for a homebirth and no story. Well here is how it all went down:

As I've previously posted, for me, the choice to have a homebirth was on a large part one in the spirit of poverty--financially and spiritually. Financially, it allowed me some control in the expenses during the pregnancy and delivery.  Spiritually, it allowed me to experience my pregnancy, labor, and delivery simply and naturally, as I believe it was designed to be. Having had 6 birth experiences, this homebirth was by far my favorite!

 We had my religious goodies up on the mantle which included our enthroned Mary statue and Sacred Heart of Jesus picture, a pregnant statue of Mary on lend from a dear friend, and a relic of St. Gerard Majella (patron saint of expectant mothers).

As is the tendency with my pregnancies, I went overdue. A full 14 days overdue! From the beginning I told myself I would be patient and stay calm, I'd put myself in a mindset that the baby was going to run late. But having had 3 inductions from being post term, I began to panic a bit that I may not be able to have my homebirth after all and would need a fourth induction. My biggest fear. Unfortunately, I don't think that fear was helping me or my body go into labor.

We tried walking. . .and walking some more.
We tried walking with homeopathic cimicifuga and caulophyllum.
We tried Evening Primrose. . .
We tried stripping membranes. . .
We tried belly wrapping. . .
We tried using castor oil exteriorly as a belly rub . . .
We tried nearly all the tricks in the book.

I was on the verge of attempting to ingest castor oil, a last resort. I was one day away from giving it a go I was getting so desperate. The deal with the midwives was that I could continue the pregnancy past 2 weeks but would need to have a non-stress test administered to verify that Baby was happy and healthy. That would have been an out of pocket expense--an expense I was trying to avoid.

Going on a little tangant here, at 8 months pregnant I had to pay for an ultrasound. There was concern that the baby was transverse. As I was heading out of town for a one last hurrah with my girls at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA before the baby arrived and I would preoccupied and tied down with a newborn, my midwife thought I should have the position verified, in case something should happen and I go into labor out of town. If that should be the case I would require a c-section. We had to get creative on the cheapest way to have an ultrasound done. Many diagnostic ultrasound offices were charging as much as $500. We simply needed to check the position of the baby--we didn't need a full work up. One of the closest and cheapest solutions was a place called Clear Sight Ultrasound in Richmond, VA. They do gender determination, 3-D ultrasounds, and all those memorable pregnancy extras. This was a first for them, to determine the position of a baby for a homebirth and to do ultrasound that late in pregnancy. But they were great and willing to do it. So, on our way down to Williamsburg we stopped along the way at their office in Richmond. I had been deciding whether or not I wanted to know the gender, as I didn't know up to that point. I caved into the pressure of my other daughters who were dying to know. My girls got to be with me in thr room as we watched the ultrasound on a large screen-GIRL! It a great experience and memory for us a family. And come to find out, by that time Baby Girl #6 was laying diagonally head down--a much better position!

So here we were 2 months later, no signs of labor staring.  I had a home visit with the midwife, a second membrane stripping, and was trying an herbal tincture (I can't recall the name off the top of my head). At last things started happening, I was having irregular contractions the rest of the morning and afternoon. By evening it seemed things might get serious. My mother came and retrieved my other 5 girls so I could relax and let my body labor. However, I still wasn't 100% sure this was the real thing, I had a false start another time and I guess I had lost all trust that my body knew how to go into labor. But with the consistent dosing of the tincture and homoeopaths plus a belly wrap to better position in the baby in my abdomen contractions were becoming more regular and stronger.
My husband and I ate a leisurely dinner of Stouffers macaroni and cheese and chicken parmesian. This was a sweet moment in my mind because in my prior induced labors I was banned from eating. And here my husband and I were sitting at our dinner table in our own home eating a meal, timing contractions, and anticipating our baby. Priceless.

Contractions were holding strong and regular but by 9 p.m. (my usual bedtime) I was getting tired and remember them slowing down to about 20 minute apart. Fearing my labor was stoppipng I wouldn't allow myself to sleep. Somewhere along the line my husband dosed off on the couch. So I continued with the tincture and homeopaths, sat in my recliner and watched a marathon of Deadliest Catch episodes of all things (sadly it was a slow movie night on the TV and there was nothing better to watch). About 1 a.m. or so I started dosing off myself between contractions. I was absolutely exhausted I couldn't help myself. I was able to pick up a few minutes here and there. At around 2 a.m. all of sudden contractions began to pick up to a regular and steady 6 minutes apart from there prior 20 minutes intervals. I finally felt it was time to call in the troops. I texted my midwives to let her know things were picking up and my doula as well. I called my mother, who was going to be present for the birth too.

FINALLY! I was in labor!!!

Everyone arrived and we just hung out on my living room floor. I used the birth ball to lean on during contractions and my doula rubbed my back. This was my first unmedicated labor, taking each contraction one at a time, it was surprisingly not as painful as I was anticipating. DO NOT get me wrong, it was by no means pleasant. The thought crossed my mind once (or twice) usually in the midst of an intense contraction that I could be at be at a hospital with an epidural, feeling nothing at that moment BUT I quickly dismissed that notion. I was exactly where I wanted to be--at home.

At about 4 a.m my midwife was checking the baby's heartbeat with a Doppler. I was laid out on my couch for a better listen. The contractions started coming back to back, I couldn't find a break between them to sit up. That's when she said it was time to start setting up shop. I was getting close. While they were getting out supplies, I decided after much deliberation that I was going to use the restroom one last time in the bathroom located only short distance down the hallway but seemed like an eternity! After that I would return and finally get in my birth pool to experience my beautiful, tranquil waterbirth.

 We had the birth pool all set up. My husband painstakingly filled it up and maintained the water temperature all night long with water boiled on the stove.

Ummm. Well, I never made it off the toilet. My water broke. My doula, who was assisting me to the bathroom, hollered to the midwives, who came running. They were telling me I needed to get back to the living room pronto. I was in a daze of sorts at this point. The instant my water broke I felt like I needed to use the bathroom--I told them so. I remember one of my midwives yanking me off the toilet seat saying if I didn't get off of it I was "going to crap my baby in the toilet"!!!! Sure enough as soon as I stood up the baby began presenting. I told them with set determination that I couldn't move. So there standing in the middle of my little bathroom, crammed in with my two midwives straddling the camode, trying to yank my pants off, my darling little baby girl was brought into the world. I like to say we almost had a water birth of a different kind!

I have to admit I sort of felt like I cheated with labor pain. My body was in labor far longer than I gave it credit for. It was a very slow, subtle labor with subtle changes instead of a quick, intense labor and delivery. The contractions were all manageable especially having kept my waters until the last minutes, keeping that cushion during contractions. And then with the assistance of gravity I really didn't have a "push time". Christy came flying out with very effort on my part except for holding on the towel rack and sink counter top for dear life.

It wasn't what I had planned or what I would have expected but it was an awesome experience with a great story!

Christy Gianna

Born April 11, 2012 4:36am

7.8 lbs, 20 1/4 in. long

To be continued. . . .

I'll finish up with the second part of my birth story next week and share some photos!

Spirit of Poverty: Birthday Pinata

My mother had her ??th birthday this past weekend. Her party was Madagascar Circus themed. Rainbow afro wigs, honking red noses, circus music, turkey legs, funnel cakes, carnival games, tye-dyed t-shirts. . . we had so much fun! I have to admit I highly enjoyed myself. I even sported a metallic, purple, Doodlebop-ish looking wig . . .  and liked it! Thank God I was the one behind the camera, no evidence pictures of me. What happens at Nana's party, stays at Nana's party!

I contributed the pinata. My gift to my mom. I made her one a few years ago for her pirate themed birthday party. I worked and slaved making her a life sized pirate skeleton, complete with a little parate perched on his shoulder. Overboard is an understatement. I can't help myself when it comes to artsy stuff.

The paper mache recipe I used called for 1 cup flour and 2 cups water. However, I found the mixture was too watery and added more flour until I had a thicker paste. I also discovered that magazines work just as well as newspaper for this project. I didn't have any old newspapers laying around but had a stack of old magazines. I tried buying a newspaper at a stand, but for 50 cents I only got a very thin paper. Not going to work! And I didn't leave myself enough time to come up any other solutions to my newspaper shortage, I needed to start it pronto to give myself enough time to let it dry between layers. So I substitute magazines for newspaper with good results.

I used, of course, a balloon for the belly--to leave it hollow for candy. For everything else, I just experimented with what I had lying around the house. I used acrylic paint I had stashed away in my art supplies. So when all was said and done, the pinata cost me 50 cents to make (the cost of that newspaper I bought)! Not bad.

This what we ended up with. Those are coffee filters on the cuffs.

Originally I tried going to the Internet for clown face inspiration. BIG MISTAKE! I freaked myself out. There are far too many scary and freaky faces out there.

We settled for a generic, non-threatening face in the end.

Poverty: The Vow

Continuing with the exploration of the LMC vows in literal form, today we look at poverty. 
A copy of the statutes in full can be found here.

POVERTY

"Christ, though rich became poor for our sake, so that in His poverty we be made rich" (Cor 8:9)


1. The LMCs, as a Movement of Consecrated Persons, choose poverty through which they might become rich in Christ. Living as lay persons in the world, not all are able to practice the vow of poverty in the same way in its material expression. Each one individually must be able to decide the best way to observe the vow of poverty, most pleasing to the Lord; thus in their voluntary poverty they will be able to help poor become rich. However renunciation of wealth in heart and spirit, the inner detachment from all earthly goods, is an absolute obligation for all.

1 - Poverty can either be material or spiritual; both of which have negative and positive aspects.

- Negative material poverty means to be deprived of the basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, clothes and education.

- Negative spiritual poverty on the other hand is an attitude, a mentality or indifference toward God, an apathy toward religion, a feeling of self-sufficiency and autonomy; in effect man becomes his own God.

- Positive material poverty means that one freely and joyfully chooses to love a simpler life; content with the basic necessities of life in imitation of Jesus who was born poor, lived poorer, died the poorest, and desires to have less rather than more.

- Positive spiritual poverty means the awareness and the conviction that without God he can do nothing - "I am what I am by the grace of God" (1Cor 15:10) - that the way to power lies through the realisation of helplessness, that the way to victory lies through the admission of defeat, that the way to goodness lies through the acknowledgement and confession of sin, that the way to independence lies through dependence, and the way to freedom lies through surrender.

Evangelical poverty is the combination of the two positive aspects of material and spiritual poverty deliberately wanted and voluntarily chosen in imitation of "Jesus who though rich became poor for our sake so that in His poverty we may become rich" (2 Cor 8:9), in order to make the poorest of the poor rich in our voluntary poverty.(From the Contemplative Brothers' Constitutions No. 62).


2. By means of the vow of poverty, the LMC will be protected from the dangers of:

- self-exaltation that can be a consequence of excess possession of material things;

- the use of the superfluous mistaken for needs; created things must be used not as an end in themselves, but as a means to know, love and serve God and to serve our fellow men better;

- avarice, which knows no moderation in the acquisition of wealth and carries with it the worries and preoccupation to secure a future in this world rather than friendship with God;

- prodigality, understood as an excessive and unrestrained use of material things, which offends against temperance.

- Through the gift of evangelical poverty Jesus calls us to:

· renounce everything, every desire and ambition of power, honour and glory (Mt 1:11), as a condition for entering the Kingdom of God (Mt 10:23-27); "renounce your very self" (Lk 9:23), "sell all your possessions" (Lk 12:32) in order to love Him above everything, love Him in everything and everything in Him. (From the Contemplative Brothers' Constitutions No. 64).


3. The LMCs constantly are reminded of the necessity for:

- filial dependence on God for everything (Lk 12: 22-32);

- renunciation of earthly goods as a condition for entering the Kingdom of God (Mk 10: 23-27). Every Christian, whether rich or poor, in their own environment and in the heart of the world, must always fulfil the service of God, with an evangelical spirit, with interior renunciation and with the appropriate use of the gifts of His love;

- fraternal sharing as a condition for entering the reign of Heaven (Mt 25:31-46). Everyone must look upon earthly goods as means for loving Christ in one's needy neighbour. "As long as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to Me" (Mt 25:40).