Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Birth Experience

After much waiting and anticipating, the birth of our son finally set into motion on May 8th, his estimated due date.

Around 3:00pm in the afternoon, my water broke. It was a slow, ongoing trickle of fluid rather than the dramatic gush I imagined it would be, and it actually took me a few minutes to be sure that this was the real deal.

Two hours later, while I was watching Top Chef reruns, the first contractions began. I called our doctor and doula, who both told us to hang out at home, try to relax, and wait for the contractions to become more frequent. So I spent the next few hours walking around, making sure our hospital bags were packed, bouncing on my exercise ball, and hanging out with Steve.

Thrilled that labor is starting, and our son is on his way.

Around 10:00pm our doula came over, and helped me relax through each contraction, allowing my body to do its work. At 2:30am we headed to the hospital. Upon arrival, I was checked by a nurse. I was 6 centimeters dilated, and 90% effaced.

Still smiling, halfway through labor. Before things got really hard.

Soon, the hard work started, with contractions becoming more intense (think really awful menstrual cramps). It took all my concentration to continue breathing and relaxing. After a while, my body suddenly had a really strong urge to push. The nurse checked, and with surprise said, "You're 10 centimeters dilated and completely effaced!" The doctor was quickly called in, and when she arrived, I was told to begin pushing. I pushed like crazy for what seemed like a miserable eternity (though I was later told it was only 15 minutes).

At 5:19am, our little baby boy was born. He wailed loudly, and was immediately placed on my chest, and we had the chance to bond as a new family. In his first moments out of the womb, Aaron was extremely alert, and seemed to be as intrigued with us as we were with him. I was exhausted, but completely overjoyed at the first few moments of seeing our son. I kept repeating, "Omigosh!," with no other words to describe how I felt. It was pure elation, relief and delirium.

Aaron after just a few minutes of being born.

The labor was 14 hours with 15 minutes of pushing, and it was the best and most painful experience of my entire life. I feel honored and proud to join the multitudes of other women who have given birth. Everything went as we had hoped - natural, non-medicated, no major complications or medical interventions. And in the end of it all, we experienced the miracle of our beautiful son being born.

Aaron and I recovering from our long night of delivery.

Like a true urban Angelino, he can throw up a gang sign. "M" for Marks.

On our way home from the hospital. Aaron really loves the car seat.

Ah...finally home, nice and cozy on the quilt that Grandma Marks made for him.

Thank you for all your kind words and warm wishes. It's wonderful to know that Aaron is welcomed with so much love.

30 comments:

  1. ACK! Congratulations! Dance of joy! Happiness and Aloha to you!

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  2. I'm glad to hear everything went well. Also, That first picture of Aaron is my favorite so far.

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  3. OH MY GOD, I have REAL TEARS in my eyes right now. Congratulations to both of you, he looks so cute and healthy and may he grow big and strong and smart and as fabulous as his parents :)

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  4. Congratulations! He is a beautiful baby and the 3 of you are a great looking family. :o)

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  5. Wow - sounds like an excellent birth experience. Congratulations again!

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  6. I am so happy for you, Larissa! I'm also in awe of you! haha. What can I say? Childbirth terrifies me, but you make it sound totally do-able. I'm amazed, really and truly amazed. Aaron is gorgeous and you guys are the cutest little family of three. Many, many congrats to you, momma!

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  7. What a wonderful, wonderful story! I'm so glad you had the birth experience you were hoping for. I am very encouraged because I want a natural, unmedicated birth too.

    Congratulations, again! I know you are so happy to be holding your sweet baby boy in your arms!

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  8. Wow, born exactly on the due date, that's pretty rare!

    he's adorable! Congrats on a healthy and safe birth! Can't wait to read about the other stories as he grows up.

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  9. Oh my gosh, I'm a little behind on blogs. CONGRATS!

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  10. How exciting for y'all! I know having him in your arms must be a total joy.

    I'm a ways off from having children, but reading your birthing story makes me a little less nervous about the entire experience. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  11. Congratulations again! You guys are my inspiration when I want to go through a natural birthing experience too when it's my turn. Enjoy every moment because it's all to precious. God Bless!

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  12. dude, you're a rockstar. congrats!

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  13. Congratulations! You're amazing and I've been looking forward to this blog post for days...haha! 14 hours of intense menstrual cramps? EEK! But I'm glad to hear that you thought it was the most painful yet BEST experience of your life. It encourages me to give it a try! :P Anyways, I can't wait to meet your precious baby son! I'll definitely come over sometime before SummerCon! Congrats again... I applaud you Mommy! :)

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  14. What a great entrance into the world! Who's tongue does he have?

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  15. so awesome, larissa. thanks for writing it up...it made me cry when i saw the pic of you and aaron resting after your night of labor. you're a mom!!!

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  16. awww! congrats! he's adorable and you look beautiful!

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  17. I'm so very proud of you! I knew you could do it. :) Well done Mama.

    The best thing about natural births is that you get to truly appreciate that feeling of euphoria when suddenly your little person is here, and the pain is all gone!!

    He's gorgeous, and despite that you must have been exhausted, you look great too.

    Enjoy these first few months. Although sometimes trying, they go so quickly.

    xxx

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  18. Oh goodness, he is so handsome!! Congrats Mama!!

    xox

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  19. Yippee! I'm so proud of you guys. Larissa, way to go you powerful woman. You give the rest of us ladies the confidence that we too can have a natural birthing experience if we so choose. Steve, I'm sure you were an awesome "dudela" and gave Larissa all the support and nurturing that she needed. Congrats! Way to go Team Marks!

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  20. wow. sounds like everything went so smoothly and labor wasn't too long. i was in labor with alisha for almost 30 something hours all together and 30 minute of pushing. well, congrats again. and give aaron a kiss from all of us. take care.

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  21. aw yay. sounds like a pretty stress-free labor. so excited for you and your family!

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  22. Congrats! What a experience. :D
    Aaron is so cute. Have a wonderful time over the weekend.

    Alexander
    Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex

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  23. What a wonderful story! Your pictures really capture the process and the joy in your family.

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  24. Big congratulations to you guys! He's gorgeous! :)

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  25. Congrats again, Larissa! I'm so happy that the labor and birth turned out just as you wanted it and resulted in such a beautiful little boy.

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  26. I've got to tell you, I'm not normally one who gets super gushy over kid stories (or weddings, for that matter). But, this statement: The labor was 14 hours with 15 minutes of pushing, and it was the best and most painful experience of my entire life. ... kind of got me choked up. Amazing, girl - you did good!

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  27. I'm so glad you had such a positive experience! Congrats again and he is positively beautiful!

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  28. Congratulations! I'm so glad everything went well, and exactly according to your plan. He's absolutely gorgeous!!

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  29. Ohhh! CONGRATULATIONS! What a beautiful baby boy!!!!

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  30. Ohmigosh, indeed!! First of all, YOU are absolutely gorgeous in all of those photos! You really are glowing! And second, Aaron is absolutely adorable--and so tiny!! You have a beautiful family :)

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