Teddy is almost seven months old! I shared his birth story almost real time on Instagram and Facebook, but haven’t added it to my blog and I figured it was about time. As I reflect back on his birth I’m left with such a sense of gratitude. Birth is always unpredictable, sometimes traumatic, and I am just plain lucky in having had three relatively uneventful births.
Since this was my second home birth the preparation wasn’t much different than what I did for Langston. In some ways I was more minimal. My plan was to give birth in our tub on the second floor, so we didn’t rent a tub like we had with LJ. Overall I truly loved my labor and birth. I’m eternally grateful to my midwives Rebecca and Aly. Spoiler: I had him over a toilet, but luckily he didn’t fall in.
Theodore Louis DeGroot
Tuesday September 14th, 2021
9lbs 0z | 21.5” long
6:48am
I would say that my birth story begins on Sunday the 12th. Around 10-11pm I started having some waves and knew that maybe things might be getting started. Each time I’ve been in labor I’ve used a contraction timing app and it has been so fascinating to look back at each of my labors to see how they’ve progressed. Usually, I stop having the ability to time them once transition gets going, but it has been interesting having a log for all three. We spoke with our midwife Rebecca on the phone and decided to rest and call her later if anything changed. I fell asleep and woke up the next morning feeling rested and ready for the week. I had a feeling baby might come this week of Monday the 13th but was feeling so good that I wondered if I’d go over. Monday morning I dropped off Priscilla at preschool and did the usual routine and errands for the day. I took some cute photos of Cilla and LJ in the afternoon for a brand collaboration I was working on and was excited to edit them once Seth and I got to bed. That’s exactly how our evening went, and Seth even let me put on Father of the Bride Part II while I edited photos. We went to bed early and I felt pretty good as I drifted off to sleep.
Tuesday morning around 3:15am I woke up to some waves and thought maybe things might be happening. I waited a while, timed them starting around 3:30am and just tried to relax. With my previous babies’ labor had started earlier so this was an interesting time. I wondered if I might get my natural light, morning birth that I had prayed for. Around 4am I decided to wake Seth, thinking this might be the real thing. I walked around to his side of the bed, tripped over our dog Astro, and fell on him to wake him up. I kept timing things but was worried about calling our team too early. Our home is so far from our midwives, my mom, photographer and videographer that I didn’t want anyone coming out here for nothing. Around 4:45am I realized I should probably call as my waves were more consistent, but still not as regular as they had been in previous labors.
I texted my in-laws first to let them know since my father-in-law gets up early. He messaged me back right away telling me “good luck” and to keep them posted. Then I decided to call my mom since I knew she would be getting up early. I figured worst come to worst she could just come out and go home if nothing happened. She picked up and told me she was on her way. I then called our midwives, Rebecca told me she thought I was her alarm which made me feel better for calling her so early in the morning. She told me that she and Aly would just get up and head over planning to be at our house by 7am. So far, my waves were happening, but not consistent and no other labor symptoms. I ended up getting a hold of our videographer and doula Josie as well as our photographer Abby before things got too intense for me to want to be on the phone.
Around 5:46am I noticed a tiny bit of bloody show and texted Aly and Rebecca. They asked if I wanted them to hurry and I replied, “I guess.” It’s a good thing because had they originally arrived at 7am we would have had Teddy without them. At the time we had that conservation my mom arrived, coming up stairs to our third floor right as I hit transition. I threw up, but only two times which was such a relief compared to last time where I felt sick for quite a while. These waves were harder to work though, but irregular enough to give me chunks of rest. I liked laying on the bed or sitting. By now Josie had arrived and was taking some footage from the corner of our room. A while later Seth let me know that Aly was there, and they were filling up the tub. Aly came up stairs, and just like last time I felt so relieved that she had arrived. She took my blood pressure and listened to baby encouraging me to breathe through the intense waves. My mom heard LJ and Cilla wake up, so she headed downstairs. Aly went down to ready the bathroom for birth.
I was sitting up on the bed and realizing my waves were starting to get a little pushy and I needed to head downstairs. At one point I said, “I think I need to go downstairs.” During this entire labor I had a hard time moving so every position change felt like a big feat to me physically. Seth came upstairs and told me he’d help me down. We got about halfway down, and my water broke all over the steps. It was a very dramatic moment and I remember feeling slightly fearful, either that Cilla (who I could hear) would see me and get scared or that I might have this baby on our steps. Seth reassured me, and said “I’ve got you,” which helped me regain composure and keep walking.
We got to the bathroom on our second floor, and I could see the sun starting to rise. I told Aly I needed to sit down and go the bathroom and she said it was probably just time to push and I could get in the tub. I told her I could in a minute. I sat down, and then in the next contraction stood up and realized baby was coming. So, there I was, standing in between our toilet and tub with Seth holding me up. I had one hand on the windowsill and the other on my thigh. In two waves our son was born, I heard Aly say as she caught him “his head is out” and I was so happy and relieved to be done. At the next wave I pushed his body out and Aly brought him up on my chest. The best feeling in the world! He was crying so loudly and covered in vernix. I was thrilled.
I asked if I could get in the tub despite not having used it for birth and Aly said that was just fine. It felt glorious to sit down in some warm water. A few minutes after getting in Rebecca arrived and so did Abby. It was so amazing to just sit in that water and relax, looking out the window at the day starting with our baby on my chest. I delivered the placenta a few moments later without much fuss which was nice since both of my previous births took a while for that. I felt so, so good. We decided it was time to head upstairs and Cilla ended up seeing Teddy in Seth’s arms and asked, “what’s wrong with that?” Haha!
We got into bed and Teddy wanted to nurse immediately. It was so nice to just sit and be in our space after such an intense and exciting morning. Rebecca and Aly ended up giving me a repair and then did Teddy’s newborn exam. We all thought he might be less than 9lbs except for Seth who guessed correctly with 9lbs. Even though that’s not a small baby he seemed much more petit than Langston to me and his head a more polite 13 inches instead of 14. We all remarked that he looked more like Cilla than LJ and marveled at how cute he was with all his dark hair.
Around 9:45 our team left, and we were able to soak in our time with this sweet baby. I am so grateful for another wonderful, healthy birth and our growing family!
{Having film of this birth was my greatest hope, I am so so glad we have this!}
{photos by Abby Jean Photography + Film by Josie Miller}
