My due date was December 10. I had stopped working (substitute teaching) at the beginning of December and was just awaiting the birth of my baby. On December 6, around 8:30 in the morning I got up to use the bathroom. I got back into bed knowing that I wasn’t going back to sleep, but just wanting to lie there for a few more minutes. I was talking to John (my husband) when I suddenly felt my water break. I looked at him in disgust, but he was excited.
Read MoreDear Elena,
The story of your birth begins many months before you actually began your journey out into the world. When I was about 5 months pregnant with you, your Abba and I enrolled in a 12-week Bradley Childbirth class. Although my parents had taken Bradley classes with me 30 years ago, I wasn’t particularly committed to a drug-free birth, even though that’s Bradley’s thing. I didn’t feel that I had anything to prove to myself or the world by having a natural birth – I just didn’t want to be in horrible pain. This was my mindset when we started class.
Read MoreAfter a few extra days, our precious little girl is here. Lillianna Marie Banguilan was born at 6:53 am on 10/23/09 in our home. She weighs 9 lbs 9 oz and is 20.5" long. At the moment, she is sleeping peacefully in her swing and Nanay and Jaiden are at the Taste of Suwanee Festival (so it's a little quiet). I thought I would take this moment and write down some details before I forget so here is my version. (Anna's to come.)
Read MoreSaturday, June 20th, I was feeling radiant. Hot and exhausted. But Radiant all the same! I took my 5 year old daughter to a birthday party, at which nearly everyone asked when the baby was due (of course). I responded to almost everyone who asked~ “ last Wednesday, but I’m having the baby tomorrow.” I was ready. It just seemed right that the baby should come. My best friend had been telling me for months that the baby would be born on her birthday (June 21st). Anyway, we left the birthday party and went to a cookout at my folks place where I picked a bunch of green beans and continued to insinuate that the baby would be born tomorrow. “Bye, see you at the pool tomorrow unless I’m having a baby!”
Read MoreThe morning is full of hope, and this morning especially so. On Thursday, June 11, 2009, I awoke knowing that by the end of the day, I would be holding my new baby. I had spent an hour or two in and out of sleep with waves of contractions. When I got out of bed it was just after 4:00 a.m., so I told David to keep sleeping, and I went downstairs. I warmed up a rose and neroli aromatherapy oil. I had for a few days wrestled with some anxious thoughts, but this morning, alone with the Lord, I felt clear and uplifted, empowered and embraced. For the next couple of hours, I listened to praise music by Phil Wickham, ate a little strawberry yogurt, started some laundry, listened to Hypnobabies birthing affirmations while timing contractions on the birth ball, peeled carrots for the birth day cake, and walked around the still-dark house. Just before 6:00 a.m., I felt the intensity of my pressure waves increasing, so I decided to call my midwife, Debbie. Since the contractions were lasting about a minute and coming every five, she said that she would leave her home in Marietta right away.
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