These pics aren’t the most clear because it was overcast and the only lighting we had were the twinkle lights above our bed…but the memories they provide are perfect 🙂

Kylie girl comforting me during contractions.

Daniel snapped this seconds after she was handed to me—I got to hold her immediately 😀 I was so excited to see her little face and sweet eyes.

Daniel got to catch her and cut the cord

“WE DID IT!”

Kylie meeting her little sister—she wasn’t exactly sure what to think at first

Harley Nicole

10 days late, but she’s finally here.  She’s 7 lbs 15 oz of cuteness.  She has a full head of DARK hair–don’t hold your breath, Kylie’s started out dark too–she has full lips, hardly cries, smiles a ton and loves to eat.  Kylie has completely embraced the big sister role and always wants to hold her.  We weren’t exactly sure how she would adjust, but she’s such a sweetie and loves to help so we weren’t too worried, and so far so good.  Daniel has been able to take some time off work so he makes sure to play with her and when I’m not nursing or holding Harley I’ll read her books or just snuggle her.  So far we love being a family of FOUR.

waiting…waiting…and waiting…..why not get induced?

My body played tricks on me for 10 days.  I kept thinking “this is it” but then the days would come and go and we were still baby-less. I had no interest in getting induced, people would always ask “why” and I know many may not agree with me, but I believe that more often than not, the baby will come on it’s own when the time is right.  And I just felt much better waiting it out and giving her the benefit of the doubt that my dates were off-which actually turned out to be the case-However we really didn’t want her to come in the 20s because that just felt way too close to Christmas….silly I know, but we as human beings get caught up and stressed out about these things…especially with the added hormones.  But sure enough as soon as I made plans and started hoping she wouldn’t come for one more day…she came, lol.  My mother in law set it up for me to get some lash extensions so that I could feel pretty the days to follow labor, I was sooo excited and made the appointment—so of course labor started the morning of my appointment—but it’s all good, I’d much rather have a baby than lashes haha.

Birth story

As far as the actual birth story goes, I could not have asked for anything more.  Kylie’s birth was an amazing experience with no regrets or negatives memories associated with it, and Harley’s was the same way. Once I hit 41 weeks, Aly (my midwife) checked her head plates and my cervix etc and gave the “okay” for a light membrane sweep.
The following Thursday morning (really weird but Kylie was also born on a Thursday) I was getting contractions here and there as always but these were a little different…more in my back.  I just had a gut feeling that it could happen today!  So Daniel didn’t go into work (which he was more than happy about haha).  I kept Aly posted and sure enough after a couple hours things suddenly started to pick up.  For the first part Kylie came and snuggled with me which melted my heart, I just love her.  Then as soon as the midwife arrived Daniel took her over to the neighbor’s (thank goodness for friends). After that things moved really fast.  My contractions went from being 6 minutes apart to 3.   Believe it or not but this labor went even faster than Kylie’s, which meant that everything was a little more intense than the first time.  I wasn’t really prepared for that, I’m not gonna lie.  I started to wonder if my hypnobirthing techniques were working because these contractions were actually painful-whereas with Kylie it just felt like a lot of pressure-But Daniel was amazing and kept massaging my back, playing with my hair, pressing a hot water bottle against my back, letting me squeeze the life out of his hand.  Finally out of nowhere I got the urge to “push”  I thought noway, this can’t be it already.  But Aly kept reminding me to just listen to my body.  I was so worried about tearing and although many will call me crazy, I owe not tearing to not having an epidural.  Because i could feel everything going on, I knew at what point during the contraction to push-because not every one of my contractions gave me the urge so I’m so glad I didn’t have to rely on a machine or other people to tell me if I could push or not-I could feel when I needed to stop because I was overstretching the skin.  After 5 minutes and about 4 pushes she was out.  It’s my favorite thing to hear that little cry and have the anticipation build before her little face comes into view.  And I DIDN’T tear! YAAAY.  The labor in total was 2 hours!  Hence why it was sooo intense!  Once again I feel so blessed to be able to look back on the whole experience with only positive feelings.  I loved the people helping me, I loved the atmosphere of the twinkle lights above our bed, the relaxing music, the burning candles, and the king size mattress to move around on and into any position I wanted, with 7 pillows at my disposal lol.

As soon as I had her in my arms and was laying back and comfortable, Daniel ran over to get Kylie.  It was the sweetest moment.  We got it on camera, but I wasn’t 100% modest lol so I won’t be sharing that.  But we did get these photos.  Kylie immediately wanted to hold her.  I just get butterflies thinking that within the first hour of her life, Harley was held by every one of her family members, snuggled and kissed and hopefully feeling all the love that we have for her already.

Of course after we got all our family time in first Aly weighed and measured her, then all she wanted to do was nurse….and nurse….and pretty much nurse the rest of the day.  This girl can EAT!
I seriously can’t thank my mom enough for setting the pioneer example of home births.  She had all but my oldest sister at home, so growing up to me having a baby was something meant to go smoothly, happily and with little stress.

Anyway we’re just in heaven over here.  And I hope I haven’t offended anyone, I’m not trying to say that my way of having a baby is the “only right way”  We’re all different people, we have different preferences and different circumstances.  I just wanted to share what was an amazing way for me, and hope to inspire and encourage others to act on what their birth preferences are, whatever they may be.

Thanks for stopping by.  LOVE you all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!