Fast forward 18 months. Audrey was a wonderfully content baby, and aside from the usual 'I'm not tired' routines and getting into lots of mischief, we were not feeling overwhelmed when we found that number two was on the way. Our main concern was where he/she was going to be born. I am so glad my research found the Birth Center, as it has been our go-to for all our maternity and labor support needs. The first visit was so different from the OB visits. They acknowledged Shane's presence in the room, treated him like an adult, answered questions and made us feel very at home. Not to mention the birth center felt like a nice home. In the end we signed up and decided on going for a home birth. I was familiar with them as many of my siblings were born at home, and Shane seeing how nicely things just go on their own said yes, we were both looking forward to a non-stressful home delivery. Complete with all the snacks I'd get ready, our own cozy bed, no beeping monitors, and no drive home afterwards.
Just like Audrey, Cyril's due date came and went. At first we thought maybe he'd be early and we'd have a Christmas baby. Then we thought New Year's Eve? A nice tax deduction for the year. 2000 looks cool on a birth certificate. But that passed. As did New Year's Day. And a few more. Spicy food, bumpy roads etc. Nothing could dislodge him. Finally the 6th of January came. Theophany, or Epiphany in the west, seemed like a fine day. But nothing seemed to be happening. We went shopping at Costco. Had lunch at Maya's, our favorite Mexican restaurant, went to visit at my parent's house. I was feeling some back discomfort so my mom gave me a hot water bottle, which I took home. We contemplated going to evening liturgy, but decided on getting home instead.
We got home around 8, unloaded the groceries, and I started in on some dinners to freeze for the future. I was making a large batch of chicken cacciatore, standing at the stove stirring the tomato sauce when the familiar sensation of feeling like my body was in a vise grip started. There was no gentle ramping up, just a constant barrage of 'let's get down to business' contractions. I told Shane to call the answering service and have the midwives paged.
30 minutes and some intense feelings later, we got a call from the midwife who was not on call. And was not currently even in Washington state. She was at a wedding across the country and had just popped into her hotel room to grab something when she saw her pager blinking. The paging service had paged the wrong midwife. So Shane tried again and this time we got a call back right away. The midwife was on her way, as was Cyril. Shane told her I wanted to push, she said go ahead. She arrived about 9:55 with the assistant and a birthing stool. My water had still not broken so she went ahead and broke them at 10:25.
It helped, and at 10:44 Cyril arrived weighing 8 lbs 4oz, Superman style with his arm and fist leading the way. The midwife said had it not been for the arm, he probably would have arrived before she did. Which would have been fine with me. Shane did the catching and the midwife just watched and stepped in to assess the baby and then do all post birth duties. I showered, got dressed, and back in bed with some snacks. Grandma and Grandpa had come to see the baby and get the laundry washed and I am sure some other things I was not aware of because I didn't leave the bedroom. But once everyone had left, a little after midnight, we all four got in bed and went to sleep.
The next morning Shane went and got bagels and cream cheese and all kinds of fruit and tasty things and sparkling wine and we had a breakfast party to welcome Cyril, who had been very intent, and successful, on arriving on the 6th.
I was going to include pictures, but as I am having trouble locating them have decided to wait. And then maybe we can do a fun matching game instead.
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