Roman's homecoming

May 1, 2006
We arrived at our house at midnight to spend our first night as a family. We were so exhausted! We fell asleep around 1 am, and woke up 5 hours later! We were frantic, we were supposed to be feeding Roman every 2 hours. He was so sleepy..

My friend Leora let our street know about our new baby!

Our Birth Story

April 30, 2006
On the night before we welcomed Roman to the world, Eric and I talked about carpooling to work the next morning. I was still two and half weeks away from my due date (5/18) so I planned on working up until that date. Forget about going to work! My water broke on Monday morning at 2:45 am. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to wake Eric up. I thought about it for a couple of minutes... but then a contraction started.... I leaned over and woke Eric up and told him I thought it was time. He jumped right out of bed, and came to my side to let me know that everything was going to be fine, not to panic/worry. I was like I can do this. Boy, I started to get scared! In a few minutes the contractions started to intensify... I will never be able to describe the pain of contractions. I remembered our Bradley method breathing and relaxing exercises. I would take breaths in and out trying to relax during the contractions...


Eric called the Austin Area Birthing Center and talked to Heather. She asked how far apart my contractions were. Eric had been timing them, and they were a bit far apart. Heather suggested that I take a bath and see if the contractions subsided or weakened (it was my first delivery and my due date was still a bit away). Eric filled up the tub for me and helped me in. He even lit candles to help relax me. But the contractions kept coming and getting stronger... I told Eric to call Heather again and tell her that the contractions were not going away. I wanted to get to the birthing center ASAP! But Heather was great (you will see why later) She suggested that I labor at home until 7 am because the timing of contractions was still not close. She explained that she would meet us at the birthing center to check me out.. Well, I labored for about 2.5 hours at home. I remember how Eric was checking up on me and cleaning the house! He made sure to offer me all the methods of relaxation we learned in our childbirth class (i.e, massaging my back, lavender neck wrap). When it was time to go to the birthing center, I had to stop walking during contractions to concentrate on getting through the pain. which meant it took awhile to get in the car. On the way, we had to drive on Mopac and it was such a bumpy ride. I remember asking Eric to pull over a couple of times. When I got to the Birthing Center, Heather let us in. Even though we knew from class what to expect. Heather was so comforting and reassuring about what was coming up next. She examined me and to everyone's surprise, I was 9 cm dilated...she said we would be pushing within the next hour... BUT the baby was not further down than she would have liked.. So I worked through contractions for the next couple of hours, trying to help Roman down. Just my luck, contractions started to space apart. Roman was not making his way down. We tried everything: the pump, birthing stool, exercise ball, herbs, and sitting facing the toilet. Our midwife assistant, Stephanie, suggested that I try acupuncture and tried to show me how small the needles were. I told her the size of the needles didn'tÂ’t matter, I would try anything to get this baby moving along! After trying every midwife's trick for about 7 hours, I finally got the urge to push at around 3 pm. I pushed for the next hour or so with great encouragement from Eric, Heather, Joan and Stephanie. Just when I thought I had no more energy or strength to push, at 4:55 pm, knowing I had to give it my best shot (besides we all were anxious to meet this baby boy or girl with a full head of hair!) Roman made his way into our world. I can not express what I felt when the placed him on my chest immediately after his birth! It was the most challenging experience, but so empowering! I was amazed to see how big Roman was, and when Joan weighed him and let us know he was 10lbs and 9 oz. I was in disbelief! I wanted to weigh him on a different scale; the scale in the center's bathroom had always been kind to me...
I know that if I had been at a hospital, there is no way I would have been able to deliver Roman they way I had envisioned: natural, peaceful, and in a safe supportive environment.