My excellent grace...Emilia Anne...

As US presidential election results poured in, I was awake, trying to time my contractions...I was posting on a few birth groups on facebook, these contractions were irregular...probably just more false labor :(

You see, I was 41 weeks and 2 days pregnant with my second baby(9 days "late")...I had days...nay, weeks of false labor with my first...and again, with this baby...I was pretty tired of it...intense contractions that sorta follow a rhythm, and then fizzle out into nothingness...I go to bed, and likely, the same thing will happen the next day.

But these irregular contractions felt a lot more real!  But I had been tricked before!  So I was trying not to get my hopes up.  My husband and I had such a good day that day!  I had gotten a relaxing bath and nap that morning, we went to a matinee showing in 3D of Dr. Strange, and some delicious thai food for lunch, and then I rested that afternoon again...if there was a time for this baby to come, it would be that night!  I was all rested and refreshed from having a great day!

After 7pm, I had some bloody show and was losing the mucous plus in dribs and drabs...this might be the real deal!  I did stuff around the house, changed my bedsheets, and went to bed - around 11pm.  After 1am (now 10 days "late") or so, I woke up with an intense contraction and knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep for a while!!!  But they were still so irregular...so I labored at home for a while alone....I was binge watching Friends on netflix and *attempting* sleep...

Then I had a really bad contraction...and another one several minutes later...and again...another one.  So I called my midwife at 3am - after 2 hours of laboring - I was planning a home birth for this Baby #2.  I had a planned homebirth with my son, which ended up in the hospital, read his story here.  My midwife, Muriaha, said she'd be over.  I had already texted her that evening that I had bloody show, so she was aware she might get a call at 3am :P  I called my mom shortly after...

When Muriaha arrived, it was about 3:30 am.  I was definitely having real contractions!  Still not super regular, but frequent and painful!  Mur decided to check me...I was 5cm dialted, 100% effaced, with a bulging bag of waters. I started crying...I really was in labor, my body was doing all the right things, and in my tears I cried, "Praise the Lord!"  So we trudged on - made padsicles, blew up the birth tub, put sheets on the couch, etc...

My mom showed up a little later - 4ish? And Pam, my other midwife and mother to Muriaha, showed up around 4:30 or 5?  And then my dad came around 5:30 or 6...He was primarily going to fill the birth pool with hot water...and that's when we hit a glitch...every birth has to have a glitch!  We had drained our hot water to the point of the bottom...and the sediment from our lovely Fl water made my pool water murky...so we drained it...tried again...murky.  This took a lot of time...so we filled it with cold water and boiled water on the stove...a lot of it! I finally got in the pool, probably around 7am?  I was in a lot of pain and it helped so much!!!  I was able to change positions and labor freely...love that birth pool!

Then after a couple of hours, I was checked for the second time (in my whole pregnancy!) - almost 10 cm, head and waters only inches from being born!  I was so freaking happy that the end was nigh!  I was crying and thanking the Lord!  I got back in the pool...I pushed when my body told me to, and didn't when I didn't feel the need to.  Eventually, I knew the head was coming...I honestly started to get a little nervous, and there was a ton of pressure on my coccyx (tailbone).   Pam applied counter pressure and I felt renewed and confident I could get this baby out...and as she crowned, I heard my midwives whisper how big her head was...trust me, I could feel it too!!  I was literally feeling my pelvis opening up with these pushes.  With Samuel, once he crowned, his body came out without any extra pushing....his little sister took some more coercion.  I had to push several more times...it was only one minute, but that is a lot longer than the 5 seconds Samuel came out in! But she was here...10:16 AM.  About 15 hours of labor, 9 of those being active labor.  I turned over - I was leaning on the edge of the pool and delivered in a sort of hands and knees position..and pulled her near to me...I still didn't know she was a girl yet!  I held her close...she was HUGE!  I was crying...everyone was crying...so many prayers answered...I checked her and saw she was a girl, and I cried "I knew it!"

Her name - Emilia Anne.  Anne is after her two living great grandmas - Daniel's maternal Grammy and my paternal Gramma.  They both have the middle name Ann.  But I'm a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, so Anne with an "e" was imperative.  Anne also means "Grace, God has favoured me"  Emilia was a tough one for us to choose. I liked its meaning "to strive or excel"  This whole pregnancy journey from conception to birth has been nothing short of wonderful and excellent...Emilia is excellent.  The grace God gives us is excellent...and I wanted everything in her name to point back to the Lord.  My sister's name is Emily, so that was a cool link to that name also!  Emilia Anne is an example of God's excellent grace in our life!  (For those of you who don't know, I miscarried Oct 30th, 2015 and struggled with fertility issues before and after my son and conceiving Emilia.)

I got a shower after some skin to skin with her.  I went to bed, and my heart started racing pretty good, so my midwives gave me some oxygen...but when my mom walked into the room holding Emi, my heart rate came right back down...it might have been the oxygen, might have just been my maternal self needing to be near my baby :)  Or just might have been that I was starving and my blood sugar was low.

So we did the exams and weighing...she was, incredibly, 10 pounds and 12 oz and had already pooed a lot...so she very well could have been 11 pounds right at birth, or just under that!  She is 22 inches long, of rolly polly arms and legs.  Her head was 14 and a half inches...yeah...I knew it was big...We wiped her meconium off with organic olive oil as her "bath"  (I do not bathe my babies until after the cord falls off, and even then, I don't use soap, just epsom salts in the water....I like the flora and fauna to get established on their skin as it is so important for immune health.  Here's a good article on delaying the bath)  We also don't do the eye goo, vit k shot, or hep b shots.  She passed all her tests with flying colors, she's incredibly strong, and can hold that huge noggin up all by herself.  I did tear slightly, but I only ended up needing 3 stitches.  I am thankful, though - the tear was superficial and not internal.  I actually tore worse with Samuel's birth, and he was over 2 pounds smaller.  I am also thankful for midwifery care - most OB's in this area would have done a weight test ultrasound, seen that the baby was large, and insisted on an induction or c-section.  I had my healthy full term baby, on my body's terms, with only 3 bitty stitches.


We sat down for a good nursing session...she latched great and nursed away for a long time...on both sides!  And we've had lots of snuggles and kisses...welcome to the world my Emi Anne...we're so happy you came...

Here's a photo slide show and some other faves!



I hope you enjoyed this birth story...

Becca H.

The Womb Trilogy: Fertility

Greetings readers that have stayed with me even through my political ramblings.  I have oft received questions about fertility herbs/supplements/etc that have aided in my pregnancies - both conception and pregnancy....Even post partum as I was able to exclusively breastfeed, work part time, and lose all my baby weight plus 10 pounds.  I AM NOT AN EXPERT!  I'm only talking about my experience and my research and how it related to my body.

This is not intended to replace your own research, doctor's advice, etc., but to supplement or prompt you into your own.

Time for some background on my health:
So with Samuel I got pregnant right after I turned 27, and with this baby, right after I turned 30.  I have never had regular periods, and if I had gotten proper testing, I would probably be diagnosed with PCOS - as I have most of the symptoms.  I got my first period right before I turned 14 years old, and never had a 28 day cycle - but both my mother and my sister did.  I also don't normally get much by the way of mood swings - like PMS type stuff.  I have one or two heavy days, and my period usually lasts 6-8 days.  Currently, I am pregnant, so I don't have one, and I'm going to be curious to see how my post partum periods are after this baby.  In between Samuel's pregnancy and this one, I used the Keeper Cup as my menstrual hygiene choice.  I had apparently developed an allergy to a chemical in mainstream maxi pads, I also became aware of all the chemicals in tampons and pads and uncomfortable with those options, and I was able to get the keeper cup through a co-op I'm in for just over 20$.  It worked for all 6 periods I had - like a charm...the first month or two was definitely a learning curve, but with a little time and patience, I was hooked.  There are many types of cups out there, so research what one you might think is best.  A lot of the chemicals in tampons and maxi pads actually interfere with hormones.  It makes me wonder how much of the problems I had as a teen and young adult were related to the chemicals I was sensitive to, causing me issues.  Not everyone is sensitive to things like this - which is why some people can eat junk food and stay thin, and others of us look at a soda sideways and gain 5 pounds....I am the sensitive one, so I simply take more precautions than "normal" people.  However, sometimes we aren't aware of the damage being done, so being "sensitive" is sometimes a blessing too.  Anyways, I digress.

I have skipped months of my period when I was in college especially(and I was celibate).  I blame it on stress of college plus living in a dorm with so many other women.  When I graduated in '07, I also started birth control...I used the NuvaRing - several girls at work recommended it, and it was a lose dose birth control, non-abortive, and it gave out consistent hormones, right to the vagina, vs. taking a pill that runs through the digestive system, blood stream, and eventually gets to the source - this happens every day - hormone levels rise and fall and this happens daily...that concerned me.  I am still confident in my choice of NuvaRing at the time...I wish I had made other choices in life all together at that time...and didn't go on it at all.

While on birth control, I didn't get pregnant, but my periods weren't as predictable as they should have been.  I'd still be a day or two late from time to time.  I still had acne issues, thin and greasy hair, etc.  After being on it for about 2.5 years fairly happily, my need for it was gone, I had moved to FL from PA, didn't have a prescription or a doc down here, so I decided to stop it altogether...and then I waited for a period.  And waited...and waited.  After several months, I mentioned it to my chiropractor, and she put me on two liquid herbal supplements through Standard Process and I got a period - a normal one - as if I had been menstruating all along.  These supplements were expensive, and my chiro was far from my house, and I figured I must have "reset" my uterus, so to speak, so I stopped the supplements after I ran out....and waited again...for a LONG time.  A total of a year after I stopped NuvaRing, a period finally returned on its own - without supplements.  So in the 12 months of being off birth control, I had one herbally induced period.  It was still extremely irregular at that point when it came back on its own...I probably got 6-7 periods a year - whenever they wanted to show up- never 28 days apart, always very late.  I told my now husband, when we were dating, that conceiving might be difficult because of all these things...he loved and married me anyways :)

So after about a year of marriage, irregular periods, several pregnancy "scares" that ended in tears of frustration, I delved deep into fertility diets, supplements, etc.  We weren't trying to get pregnant, but I was OVER my hormones being ridiculous.  SO much of what I read and researched said "exercise 3 times a week, eat healthy, and take your multivitamins."  - *eye roll*...I already did all of that, probably more so than the normal pregnant person at the OB.  I had a period Sept 2012, and then nothing for Oct/Nov until Dec 2012.  I went to the OB to get a pap smear since it had been a while, and mentioned my ideas about PCOS testing and she said "oh, those tests are expensive and you're a cash patient and don't have a real job [I was working for the state as an independent contractor in the local courthouse] - you probably just have weird hormones - I'll see you next year for your pap".  I didn't love that answer.

So I learned a lot on my own, and two months later, found myself pregnant with my dear son, and had a great pregnancy.  With this current pregnancy, I had a completely different story.  I'll be brief.  Basically, after I had my son in November 2013, I didn't get a period until I completely weaned him from nursing - May 2015.  After about 5 periods, I experienced a miscarriage(Oct 2015), and then 2 missed months of no period(but I lactated, that was fun :( ), followed by one "rough" cycle, and then got pregnant with my current pregnancy.  I did a few things differently with conception this time, so I'll put it all in one list but under Baby 1 or Baby 2.  I don't think all of this is necessary for most women, but it is what I did and I went pretty gung-ho...so hopefully it helps someone.  All of these things I continued until my supplement ran out, as they are safe during pregnancy as well.  Many I continued into pregnancy and nursing, but that will be covered in the later blogs.

Baby 1:

1. Eat FAT!  I would eat bacon and eggs, with avocado on top, with buttered toast for dinner many nights a week.  (all sourced well, organic, etc.)  I didn't gain an weight doing this either.
2. Probiotic cleanse:  I wanted to restart my gut and make sure my flora and fauna were working FOR me, instead of against me.  This cleanse was easy, short, and relatively affordable - even Daniel did it with me.  
3. Omega 3's - healthy hormones:  I swear by this supplement.  I used it with both babies as a fertility aid.  
4. Vitamin D and Vitamin B:  I used both of these also.  Vit D is important in fertility and B vitamins are   important for brain health, overall.  In human biology, we learned that hormones often start in the brain, and then get sent through the body in a complex system from gland to gland, before the message is truly "sent"...I wanted to make sure that the brain itself was getting what it needed as far as fat - to transport the messages, and B vitamins to properly nourish the brain itself to send the right messages.  
5. Iodine: I use this brand, Iodoral.  Everyone knows that iodine helps the thyroid and it is key to a lot of health issues, but iodine doesn't JUST nourish the thyroid - it nourishes the brain, uterus, breasts, etc.  This particular brand is doctor formulated, recommended by my chiropractor, and is very affordable.  The 12.5 mg is a daily pill, and 180 pills lasts you 180 days - about 6 months for about 30$.  Again, safe while pregnant and nursing...to be covered later.  Kelp supplements contain FAR LESS than one pill of this and this is in the proper ratio for optimal absorption...kelp supplements are ok, but are far more inferior as a supplement, unless you are taking like a whole bottle at a time - which I don't recommend.  1 pill of iodoral has over 30 times the amount of iodine that 1 capsule of kelp has.  (12.5 mg vs. 400 mcg)  So you're saving money and increasing efficiency by going with a more potent supplement.
6. Multi-vitamin:  I shouldn't have to explain why this is a good thing.  We don't always eat well, or absorb nutrients well, so this is something to sorta help us along in our dietary journeys.  I use/d whole food, organic multivitamins and think they are just good no matter who you are.  I use the Garden of Life brand - you pick what suits your needs.  I've used both their prenatals - RAW Vitamin Code and Mykind Organics.  

Baby 2:

1. Acupuncture: It is getting a lot of press lately for improving lots of different health concerns, not the least of which, fertility.  PCOS seems to be helped by acupuncture too.  I have a great local acupuncturist who has very affordable prices.  She is great for all kinds of things!  I highly recommend her and if you aren't local, email her, and she will help you find a good one in your area!  This was absolutely my favorite too...it helped lower my stress levels, I generally took a very deep nap during it, and seriously loved it each and every week.  I started in late August 2015, and got pregnant Feb 2016 - just to give you a timeline...and I'm the only one who testifies to this kind of rapid results.  
2. Tinctures: tinctures are essentially extracts of something...in this case, herbs. My midwife recommended several to me.  You can take them in capsule form, but they are just dried herbs and still need to be digested, where as the extract is more powerful.  I prefer to just put them all in one little glass and chug.  I take enough other pill forms of supplements, taking some non-pills was nice!  The ones recommended were: 

                   - red raspberry leaf: It is just overall good for your uterus.  Women should just be taking this...
                   - Vitex (chaste berry): There are studies, probably lots of studies, but this has been used for                                     centuries to help with hormones and fertility.  It has been found to increase follicle                                         stimulating hormone, progesterone levels, etc.  This is my FIRST thing I recommend to                                 people with hormone problems or seeking fertility.
                   - evening primrose - this is a good one to take....I can't find much info on it, but my midwife                                           recommended it, so I took it.
                  - oatstraw - This one is supposed to help calm nerves and encourage ovulation.
        3.  I also did a lot of the same things I listed above with Baby 1.  I did my prenatals, the healthy                                hormones omega supplement, and the iodine - I always do all of those.  I didn't eat as well or as                    high of fat, and when I was going to buy my probiotic cleanse, I found out I was pregnant.
        4.   Chinese herbal teas - I have no idea what was in them, but my acupuncturist blended and sold them                    to me - some tasted terrible, some were ok....it was a very potent and strong blend each time                        though, so I think it helped, for what it was worth.
        5.  Checking cervical mucous - this is often recommended to check for ovulation, as well as checking                     temperature.  I wasn't diligent about the temping...it seemed so daunting and annoying.  But I                         shower every morning, so I would check it in the shower...not so hard.

With all of these changes in diet and supplements, my acne has cleared up substantially(basically gone) and my hair is thicker and less greasy.  I sleep well and have reasonably good energy, even while pregnant.

I am sure there are TONS of other things out there to do, or not to do, but these are what I researched and felt comfortable with.  I also don't have insurance, so that was absolutely a factor in my decisions, because of cost and such.  I also don't respond well to medications, overall, so I definitely wanted to give herbs, vitamins, and acupuncture a good try before trying medications.

I also highly recommend this book, Beautiful Babies.  I didn't read basically any books about babies except for Beautiful Babies and one about birth (which I'll cover in the next blog).  I felt very prepared with just that one book for all kinds of baby stuff and didn't need to read "what to expect"... :)  It talks about fertility/pregnancy/post partum and it is easy to read, not very expensive either.

A great FREE resource - Chris Kresser's "healthy baby code".

I hope this has helped you :)

In fertile health,
Becca H.
P.S. do not take folic acid.  If you are wanting to supplement with folic acid, take folate instead.